Amazon is in Hot Water Over China Factory Working Conditions

China Labor Watch, a New York-based watchdog group, has called upon e-commerce giant Amazon to improve its working conditions for factory workers in a Chinese factory that makes its Echo speakers and Kindle e-readers.

The factory is located in the city of Hengyang and is owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., otherwise known as Foxconn. Foxconn is a manufacturer of products for Amazon.

The report which was released over the weekend has found that, “Workers were required to work more than 100 hours of monthly overtime in violation of Chinese labor law that limits overtime to 36 hours a month.

It also states that, “The factory uses more “dispatch workers,” similar to temporary staff in the U.S., than are allowed by Chinese law.” Further allegations are that, “Employees did not receive adequate safety training,” and that “Workers are required to arrive at work stations 10 minutes before their shift begins and they are not compensated for this time.”

The report also noted, “All workers are subject to long hours and low wages. As wages are low, workers must rely on overtime hours to earn enough to maintain a decent standard of living.”

It was back in March that Amazon had completed an audit of the factory and found violations and asked Foxconn to fix them.

Amazon stated, “We immediately requested a corrective action plan from Foxconn Hengyang detailing their plan to remediate the issues identified, and we are conducting regular assessments to monitor for implementation and compliance with our Supplier Code of Conduct. We are committed to ensuring that these issues are resolved.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and have not been compensated for this article.