Apple’s Exhausted Workforce: Poor Working Conditions Uncovered In Chinese Factories Making iPhones

Many iPhones will be flying off the shelves and into eager awaiting hands this holiday season. And being one of the most valuable brands on the planet, there will undoubtedly be quite a number of excited new and returning iPhone users ringing in the New Year.

However, the BBC has recently shed some light on what many have chosen to turn a blind eye to. The program Panorama went undercover in China to show what life is like for the workers making the iPhone 6.

According to BBC News, filming on an iPhone 6 production line showed Apple’s promises to protect employees were routinely broken.

The video, which was secretly filmed, shows exhausted laborers falling asleep on their 12-hour shifts at the Pegatron factories on the outskirts of Shanghai.

Apple declined to be interviewed for the program but said in a statement, “We are aware of no other company doing as much as Apple to ensure fair and safe working conditions.”

“We work with suppliers to address shortfalls, and we see continuous and significant improvement, but we know our work is never done.”

Following the controversy in 2010 of the suicide of 14 workers at a Foxconn plant, Apple has implemented several regulations to monitor the working conditions of its employees.

But the recent case of 13 workers — aged 19 to 24 – being diagnosed with leukemia at an iPhone 6 factory in Shenzen, China, shows that not enough is being done to protect these individuals.

[Image via BBC]