MICROSOFT said it had opened an investigation following a report of harsh working conditions at a factory in China that makes products for the US software giant.
The Pittsburgh-based National Labor Committee, in a report released Tuesday, denounced conditions at a KYE Systems factory in the city of Dongguan in Guangdong province.
The NLC, a private group with a stated mission to "help defend the human rights of workers in the global economy," said KYE recruits hundreds of "work study students" aged 16 and 17 years old who work 15-hour shifts, six and seven days a week.
It showed photos released over the past three years purporting to have been smuggled out of the factory, showing "exhausted teenaged workers, toiling and slumping asleep on their assembly line during break time".
It said that in 2007 and 2008, before the recession, "workers were at the factory 97 hours a week while working 80-and-a-half hours".
"In 2009, workers report being at the factory 83 hours a week, while working 68 hours," the NLC said.
It said workers were paid 65c an hour, "which falls to a take-home wage of 52c after deductions for factory food."
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