WASHINGTON: Apple is investigating a factory in southwest China after a labor rights group said the tech giant’s supplier forced student workers to work “like robots” to assemble its popular Apple Watch.
Many were compelled to work in order to get their vocational degrees and had to do night shifts, according to an investigation by Hong Kong-based NGO Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM).
SACOM interviewed 28 students at the plant in Chongqing municipality over the summer, and all of them said they had not voluntarily applied to work there, according to the report published last week.
They worked under the guise of “internships,” SACOM said, a practice rights groups say is widespread in China as manufacturers pair up with vocational schools to supply workers and fill labor shortages when they ramp up production for new models or the Christmas rush.
“Our graduation certificate will be withheld by the school if we refuse to come,” said one student majoring in e-commerce, according to SACOM.
The US titan has sold tens of millions of Apple Watches — which can cost up to $1,499 — since it was launched three years ago and chief executive Tim Cook said it was the most popular watch in the world.
Manufacturing internships are permitted under Chinese labor law in some cases, but SACOM found the work has “literally nothing to do with learning” and violated some of the country’s labor law provisions permitting intern work in factories.
“We are like robots on the production lines,” one 18-year-old student told SACOM. “We repeat the same procedure for hundreds and thousands of times every day, like a robot.”
Others said they were put on the night shift working from 8 p.m. to 8 am with minimal breaks, according to SACOM.
The Chongqing factory is operated by Quanta Computer, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, and also produces for other brands. Quanta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But Apple spokeswoman Wei Gu said: “We are urgently investigating the report that student interns added in September are working overtime and night shifts.”
Wei noted Quanta Chongqing was a new Apple supplier and had been audited three times between March and June without finding student interns.
Student workers told SACOM student labor was widespread at the factory.
Assembly lines that repieced together Apple Watches that had failed a quality check were almost entirely made up of student workers, one intern told SACOM.
“The factory would not be able to operate without student workers,” a student told SACOM.
The NGO demanded Apple investigate and bring the labor practices in line with the firm’s own policies and those of the local and central Chinese government.
Apple Watch supplier under fire over China student labor
Apple Watch supplier under fire over China student labor
- Many were compelled to work in order to get their vocational degrees and had to do night shifts
- ‘We are like robots on the production lines’
Oil surges as Iran conflict disrupts Middle Eastern supply flow
SINGAPORE: Oil prices surged by as much as 13 percent on Monday after shipping in the crucial Strait of Hormuz was disrupted by retaliatory Iranian attacks following initial bombing by Israel and the US that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Brent crude futures rose to as much as $82.37 a barrel, the highest since January 2025, before retreating to be up $5.41, or 7.4 percent, to $78.28 by 09:05 am Saudi time.
US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed to an intraday high of $75.33, up over 12 percent and the highest since June, though it later pared gains and was up $4.74, or 7.1 percent, at $71.76.
Both benchmarks jumped as a sustained exchange of counterattacks damaged tankers and sharply disrupted shipmentsin the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway between Iran and Oman that connects the Gulf to the Arabian Sea.
On a typical day, ships carrying oil equal to about one-fifth of global demand from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, Iran, and Kuwait sail through the Strait along with tankers hauling diesel and jet fuel and gasoline and other products from their refineries to major Asian markets including China and India.
“Markets are acknowledging the seriousness of the conflict, but are also signalling that, for now, this is a geopolitical shock, not a systemic crisis,” said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior analyst at Phillip Nova.
Prolonged effective closure of the Strait would push oil prices higher and cause shortages in supply to top importers China and India.
More than 200 vessels including oil and liquefied gas tankers have dropped anchor outside the Strait, shipping data showed on Sunday. Three tankers were damaged and one seafarer was killed in attacks on Sunday in Gulf waters.
Asian economies are assessing oil stockpile availability and ways to secure alternative supply. South Korea will offer petroleum from its stockpiles to local industries if supply disruptions are prolonged, while India is exploring alternative shipping routes.
PRICES PARE GAINS
Still, prices pared gains after the steep surge in early Asian trade, which analysts attributed to buyers already factoring a risk premium into prices in anticipation of the conflict.
Brent had risen over 19 percent this year until Friday’s close, while WTI was trading about 17 percent higher.
Amid the conflict, OPEC+ agreedon Sunday to a modest oil output boost of 206,000 barrels per day for April. Every OPEC+ producer is essentially producing at capacity except for Saudi Arabia, RBC Capital analyst Helima Croft said.
The International Energy Agency is in touch with major producers in the Middle East, director Fatih Birol said on Sunday. The energy watchdog coordinates the release of strategic petroleum reserves from developed countries during emergencies.
Globally, visible oil inventories stood at 7.827 million barrels, enough for 74 days of demand, which is near a historical median, Goldman Sachs wrote in a note.
Citi analysts expect Brent to trade between $80 and $90 a barrel this week amid the ongoing conflict.
“Our baseline view is that the Iranian leadership changes, or that the regime changes sufficiently as to stop the war within 1-2 weeks, or the US decides to de-escalate having seen a change in leadership and set back Iran's missiles and nuclear program over the same time frame,” Citi analysts led by Max Layton wrote.
Analysts are also warning retail gasoline prices in the US, the world’s biggest fuel consumer, may break above $3 a gallon because of the conflict, a potentially risky result for President Donald Trump and his Republican Party ahead of midterm elections this November.
US gasoline futures surged by as much as 9.1 percent to $2.496 a gallon, their highest since July 2024, and were last at $2.381 a gallon, up 4.2 percent.
