In a press release crafted to shed a harsh light on working conditions in the factories that assemble Apple’s products, China Labor Watch reported Wednesday that a 26-year-old worker named Tian Fulei died while employed at a Shanghai Pegatron factory that assembles the iPhone 6.
Tian’s family told CLW that the 26-year old Tian was healthy when he began working at Pegatron in November 2014. It was only after months of long overtime hours that his health suddenly failed him…
“The cause of death given by the hospital was ‘sudden death.’ But before his death, Tian worked day-after-day of long overtime shifts. Taken together, there is reason to believe that Tian died from overwork.”
The last time CLW accused Pegatron and Apple of working an employee to death was December 2013, when a 15-year-old boy died on an iPhone 5C assembly line. According to medical experts sent by Apple to investigate, the underage worker had used someone else’s ID to get the job and had died of pneumonia. (link)
“Apple has a long-standing commitment to providing a safe and healthy workplace for every worker in our supply chain,” the company said at the time, “and we have a team working with Pegatron at their facility to ensure that conditions meet our high standards.”
According to CLW, Pegatron originally offered Tian Fulei’s family 15,000 RMB ($2,400) as recompense for his death. The family eventually settled for 80,000 RMB ($12,800).
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