Foxconn defends work, living conditions

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HONG KONG, June 1 (UPI) -- Apple's top supplier in China says it is committed to ensuring satisfactory living and working conditions after complaints by a rights group in Hong Kong.

Taiwanese company Foxconn, an electronics giant with plants in Shenzhen and Zhengzhou on the Chinese mainland, released a statement saying, "The welfare of our employees is without a doubt our top priority and we are working hard to give our more than one million employees in China a safe and positive working environment," CNN reported Friday.

The company also makes electronics for Sony, Microsoft and Nokia.

Rights group Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior said it interviewed 170 Foxconn workers and found many employees were subjected to long working hours, unpaid overtime, humiliation by management, CNN said.

"Some workers felt the most pressing issue is their treatment by management, while others felt pay was the main issue. But most agreed they had witnessed no significant improvements," SACOM's Debby Chan Sze Wan told CNN, referring to pledges made by Foxconn since 2010.

Workers recently received raises but said they were actually worse off because paid overtime was reduced.

Foxconn said it is working with the Fair Labor Association "to carry out a remediation program to continuously improve the working environment for our employees and to ensure they are treated with respect."