A report from the lobbying group, makeITfair claims that Asian mobile phone makers exploit worker’s rights and expose them to toxic chemicals.

The report details cases of young electronics workers reportedly handle chemicals without protective gear, working inhumane overtime hours to cover basic needs and extreme punishment for making mistakes.

The export processing zones in Asia where the factories are located, allow worker protests to be brutally suppressed.

While the  prices of mobile phones steadily decline, the factory workers that manufacture our phones in China and the Philippines continue to pay a very high price, the report said.

Young women in Asian factories are denied their basic rights and have few or no means of improving their situation since independent unions are often prohibited.

Companies named and shamed include six factories that produce components for Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson and Apple’s iPhone in China and the Philippines.

All the factories violate national laws, conventions of the International Labour Organisation as well as the mobile phone companies’ own codes of conduct on issues such as working hours and use of hazardous chemicals.

Workers often toil for 10 to 12 hours per day, six to seven days per week, and minimum wages have become standard as basic wages for full time work.

Apparently since the mobile phone companies saw the data compiled by makeitfair, one of them is questioning the matter of low wages at its plant. X

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