Apple Biel Crystal Supplier Accused of Labour Abuses
Hong-Kong based company Biel Crystal Manufactory Ltd is violating workers' rights at its Chinese factories, a Hong Kong rights group alleged in a report.
The Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) investigatived that the labour conditions in Biel Crystals Huizhou factory in Honk Kong. Biel Crystal is one of the biggest suppliers of the worlds touchscreen cover glasses and a supplier of Apple.
SACOM's report claims that the factory workers were forced to sign a "voluntary overtime application form" in order to work 11 hours every day, seven days a week during peak season. It also mentions that they have to to sign blank contracts, while work injuries are common in the factory and the workers do not get compensation from Biel Crystal. In addition, at least 5 suicides took place in the factory since 2011.
Kitty Potter, a spokeswoman for Apple in Greater China, said that the U.S. company "investigates such cases."
Biel Crystal employs more than 60,000 workers in two factories, one in Guangdong and the other in Shenzhen.
Labor rights groups have been criticizing the working conditions in at two other Apple suppliers - Foxconn Group and Pegatron Corp.
SACOM's report claims that the factory workers were forced to sign a "voluntary overtime application form" in order to work 11 hours every day, seven days a week during peak season. It also mentions that they have to to sign blank contracts, while work injuries are common in the factory and the workers do not get compensation from Biel Crystal. In addition, at least 5 suicides took place in the factory since 2011.
Kitty Potter, a spokeswoman for Apple in Greater China, said that the U.S. company "investigates such cases."
Biel Crystal employs more than 60,000 workers in two factories, one in Guangdong and the other in Shenzhen.
Labor rights groups have been criticizing the working conditions in at two other Apple suppliers - Foxconn Group and Pegatron Corp.
