Assembly line workers are logging 12-hour days to churn out the latest handsets for Samsung Electronics at a factory in Huizhou, China.
24-year-old Wang Hong Wei knows what it's like: He and about four to six others would collectively assemble 2700 Samsung Galaxy S III phones each day at the factory run by HTNS Shenzhen Co. But they could never finish the job within normal working hours.
"They told us we could complete it in ten hours, but ten hours was not enough," Wang said when interviewed in late November. "Every day we kept working, but we couldn't finish."
Long working hours are often cited as one of the major labor law violations occurring at electronic manufacturers in China. But for many workers in the country, the excessive overtime is simply the norm, and even sought after. In exchange, employees receive higher salaries, and companies such as Samsung and Apple supplier Foxconn can ship out more product. But after facing increased scrutiny over working conditions in China, both Samsung and Foxconn have pledged to bring down workers' overtime hours over the next two years.
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