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Amazon is investigating reports that teenagers in China were forced to work overtime building Echo speakers

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Geekz Snow

Amazon says that it’s investigating reports that its hardware supplier Foxconn, which produces Amazon Echo and Kindle hardware for the company, has violated labor laws by requiring teenaged workers to work overtime and night shifts, as reported by The Guardian.

The issue is specifically that the students — who are between the ages of 16 and 18 and are legally hired as “interns” — were working overtime and night shifts.

Chinese labor laws allow students over the age of 16 to work in factories, but they prohibit overtime and night shifts.

An account from China Labor Watch details the conditions at the factory further.

In addition to the extra shifts (which the students are said to be forced to work by teachers or else they’ll be fired), the report also notes that student intern workers receive lower wages and poorer benefits.

Foxconn acknowledged to The Guardian that there was an issue, saying, “there have been instances in the past where lax oversight on the part of the local management team has allowed this to happen and, while the impacted interns were paid the additional wages associated with these shifts, this is not acceptable and we have taken immediate steps to ensure it will not be repeated.”

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Geekz Snow
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