Labor Watch Blames Rush to Produce iPhone 5C as Reason for Worker Abuse in China; Apple Plans to Sell Cheap iPhones Through China Mobile (VIDEOS & PHOTOS)

Apple is again embroiled in another round of labor abuse accusations in China following the publication on Thursday by China Labor Watch of a report that cited legal and ethical violations at the Jabil Circuit factory in Wuxi City.

The group explained the excessive working hours, insufficient training and poor employee working and living conditions to the rush by the factory to finish production of a cheaper version of the Apple iPhone. The gadget is set to be launched on Tuesday, Sept 10, as iPhone 5C.

Jabil Circuit, based in St Petersburg, Florida, is a supplier of Apple.

China Labor Watch pointed out that the conditions at the Wuxi plant violate promises by Apple to fix the labour problems in its supply chain such as 69 hours of work per week, a quote of 90 iPhone covers per hour, only 2 hours pre-work training as opposed to 24 hours mandated by Chinese law, 30-minute lunch breaks and daily 12-hour shifts.

Despite the release by the Cupertino-based tech giant of yearly supplier responsibility reports based on audits that Apple conducts on China facilities, the efforts are insufficient to curb worker abuse, China Labor Watch said.

"Despite half a decade of outside investigations and self-reporting on myriad labor abuse throughout its Chinese supply chain, Apple has continually failed to compel supplier factories to conform to Apple's code of conduct and local labor laws before giving these suppliers Apple production orders," The Washington Post quoted China Labor Watch.

In response to the accusation, Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said that a team is already in Wuxi to investigate so-called labour abuse. She said Apple has done 14 audits of Jabil plants since 2008, including 3 at Wuxi in the past 3 years, and that particularly facility has yielded a 92 per cent average for compliance with Apple's 60-hour per week limit.

The bulk of these cheap iPhones are expected to be shipped to China Mobile for Apple to get a larger slice of the Chinese smartphone market. The two companies have been hammering a deal for the past few years.

If Apple would get China Mobile to sign on the dotted line, it could regain once more its smartphone throne that it lost to Samsung since the Chinese wireless carrier has 700 million subscribers or seven times the size of Verizon Wireless, the largest carrier in the U.S.

Data from research firm Canalys said that Apple sales in China, its third largest market, plummeted 14 per cent from a year ago to $4.6 billion during its fiscal Q3 ending June 29, resulting in a 5 per cent share and seventh place while rival Samsung enjoyed an 18 per cent share.

There is no official price yet for the speculated iPhone 5C, but analysts estimated it would be at $400 or half the price of the current iPhone 5 of $815, which would likely be considered too expensive still for Chinese consumers who have cheaper alternatives from Chinese brands.