A secret investigator went undercover at Foxconn for four years and found that 50% of the employees were temporary workers?

Apple and its manufacturer Foxconn have reportedly admitted to violating Chinese labor laws by using too many temporary workers in the production of iPhones.

The claim was made by China Labor Watch (CLW) ahead of Apple's fall event on Tuesday to unveil a new iPhone. The nonprofit advocacy group investigates factory conditions in China and says it has uncovered other alleged labor rights violations by Apple's partners.

This iPhone factory is located in Zhengzhou, China, and is also the largest iPhone factory in the world.

In its latest report, CLW said undercover investigators worked at Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant, including one who had worked there for four years. One of the main findings: Temporary workers, also known as dispatched workers, made up about 50% of the workforce in August. CLW noted that Chinese labor law limits temporary workers to a maximum of 10%.

Apple said that after conducting an investigation, it did find that "the proportion of dispatched workers exceeded our standards" and that it was "working closely with Foxconn to address this issue." It added that when the issue was discovered, it worked with the supplier and "immediately took corrective action." Foxconn also confirmed the temporary worker violations after an operational review.

The report said 55% of the factory employees were dispatched workers in 2018, compared with about 50% in August, including student interns. Since many of these students returned to school in late August, that number is now closer to 30%, but it is still a violation, according to CLW.

“We believe everyone in our supply chain should be treated with dignity and respect," Apple said in a statement. "To ensure we uphold our high standards, we have robust management systems in place, starting with workplace rights training, on-site worker interviews, anonymous grievance channels and ongoing audits."

Foxconn said it found "evidence of the use of dispatch workers and the number of hours employees worked overtime, which we have confirmed was voluntary, although inconsistent with company guidelines."

“These issues violate Apple’s own code of conduct,” CLW said in its report. “Apple has the responsibility and ability to fundamentally improve working conditions in its supply chain. However, Apple is now passing on the associated costs to workers through its suppliers and profiting by exploiting Chinese workers.”

In addition, the CLW report revealed other findings: For example, during peak production periods, resignations were not approved; during busy production periods, some workers worked at least 100 hours of overtime per month, while my country's labor law stipulates that overtime should not exceed 36 hours per month; the factory did not provide employees with adequate protective equipment; the factory did not report work injuries, and verbal abuse was common.