Foxconn Employees Forced To Sign ‘No Suicide’ Pledge: Report | Epicenter | Wired.com

Foxconn Employees Forced To Sign ‘No Suicide’ Pledge: Report | Epicenter | Wired.com:

Labor group Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) went to the facility and interviewed more than a hundred employees in March and April 2011, to survey the current working conditions. The report found staff working overtime that exceeded the legal limit, endless back-to-back shifts and dormitories that feel like prison blocks.

Labor laws in China dictate that overtime should not exceed 36 hours per month. The report says that workers are usually subjected to 50 to 80 hours of overtime a month. In the Chengdu facility — where Foxconn employees put together the iPad — staff could expect a grueling 80 to 100 hours of overtime, on top of the 174 regular work hours.

Staff members interviewed said that working overtime was voluntary, but making up the extra hours was necessary to earn a regular salary.