China Labor Watch Investigation Reveals Labor Conditions at Foxconn Zhengzhou Raises Labor Rights Concerns in Apple’s iPhone 17 Supply Chain. Report finds over half of workforce are dispatch workers, with other issues include wage withholding, excessive overtime, discrimination, and dispatch workers with student status forced onto night shifts.
New York, September 25, 2025 — China Labor Watch (CLW) today released a new investigative report, Apple’s Dependence on China in Its Supply Chain: An Investigation of Foxconn Zhengzhou. During the manufacturing process of the latest iPhone 17, CLW investigated labor conditions at the factory. The report details labor practices that are in contravention of local labor law at Apple’s largest iPhone production base in Zhengzhou. Investigators also documented the presence of Apple employees in the factory, suggesting that Apple representatives are aware of these working conditions.
With an investigative period from March to September 2025, the investigation found that Foxconn employed 150,000–200,000 workers during peak season. Dispatch workers made up more than 50% of the workforce—five times the legal limit under Chinese law.
Key findings:
- Labor risks related to payment system: Hourly dispatch workers’ wages were around 25 RMB/hour. This is split into two installments, with the first portion set at a base wage set at 12 RMB/hour, and the remainder paid at the end of the following month. If workers resigned prior to the 25th of a month, the remainder portion for effectively 45-50 days would not be paid. In essence, this means overtime work for those two months received no additional pay, in clear violation of Chinese law, and the base wage in those two months would also be below the statutory minimum wage for hourly workers (RMB 20.6/hour, which is a rate higher than hourly minimum wage standard for regular workers).
- Workers with student status: Paid only 12 RMB/hour, these workers worked night shifts and overtime, with some assignments tied to graduation requirements—raising concerns of coercion.
- Excessive overtime: Most workers clocked 60–75 hours per week, well above China’s legal maximum and Apple’s own 60-hour weekly cap.
- Discriminatory hiring: Recruitment explicitly excluded Uyghur, Tibetan, Hui, and Yi minority applicants. Pregnant women and female workers faced systematic recruitment discrimination.
- Wage and benefits violations: Wages were delayed under complex rebate schemes, with fines for minor infractions. Dispatch workers and those with student status were generally denied social insurance, paid sick leave, or maternity leave.
- Health and safety risks: Workers were exposed to hazardous chemicals such as toluene and xylene without adequate protective equipment or mandatory exit health checks.
- Harassment and intimidation: Widespread verbal abuse, gender-based harassment, and sexual harassment persisted. Workers who raised complaints were subjected to surveillance, threats, and even the public release of personal information.
Conditions have worsened, or remain unchanged since 2019
Compared to CLW’s 2019 investigation, many of these problems have persisted or worsened. This includes the reliance on dispatch workers, which is over the legal limit, wage systems that have leveraged on workers’ economic precarity, ethnic discrimination that has become more explicit, stricter information control and surveillance, and continued concerns with occupational safety protections.
In addition, Foxconn issued a press release in April 2025 claiming to have undergone a Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) audit. However, the RBA has not responded to CLW’s July inquiry regarding transparency, highlighting serious shortcomings in the audit system.
CLW Executive Director Li Qiang stated:
“While Apple announced a $600 billion investment in the U.S. from the White House podium, its key supplier in Zhengzhou continues to operate a labor system heavily dependent on temporary dispatch workers and dispatch workers with student status. This not only violates Chinese labor law but also meets international indicators of forced labor. Without genuine enforcement and accountability, workers’ conditions will only deteriorate. Apple’s U.S. investment pledges are more of a public relations exercise, while its global supply chain remains built on systemic exploitation of workers.”
China Labor Watch calls on Apple and Foxconn to immediately:
- Comply with Chinese labor law and reduce dispatch worker ratios to within the legal limit
- End the use of dispatch workers with student status for night shifts and coercive arrangements tied to diplomas
- Ensure workers receive full social insurance, paid sick leave, and overtime pay
- Establish independent grievance and worker representation mechanisms.
The full report is available here.
Media Contact:
China Labor Watch (CLW)
Email: clw@chinalaborwatch.org
Phone: +1 212 244 4049