(Yicai Global) Nov. 9 -- Apple has suspended its partnership with original equipment manufacturer Pegatron after finding student interns laboring under abusive working conditions at the second-largest assembler of iPhones in China, The Paper reported.

Student interns at units of Taiwan-based Pegatron in Shanghai and Kunshan were working overtime and on night shifts, the report said today, citing sources who pointed out that this time of year is usually peak season for iPhone production when factories try to find additional labor. 

California-based Apple found in a recent inspection that the students’ labor conditions “violated the local laws and regulations,” Pegatron confirmed in a statement released yesterday.

Pegatron did not specify the number of students involved, but said that it had tried to avoid such abuses and upon discovering the incident was helping the students to return home or to school and was providing them with reasonable pay as well as necessary support and care.

Apple said that Pegatron violated the Apple Supplier Code of Conduct, adding that Pegatron staff “went to extraordinary lengths” to cover up the violations. 

Apple has put its partner on probation and no new business will be done between them until Pegatron finishes all the necessary corrective measures, the US tech giant said in a statement, adding that Pegatron has already dismissed the managers responsible.

Pegatron has five plants in the Chinese mainland: Mingshuo Computer and Kangshuo Electric in Suzhou, Changshuo Technology in Shanghai, Shishuo Electronics in Kunshan and Xushuo Technology in Chongqing.

Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn, is the biggest assembler of Apple iPhones in the Chinese mainland.

Editor: Tom Litting