MacRumors’ Erik Slivka:

Earlier today, labor rights group China Labor Watch issued a report making claims of poor working conditions at Apple’s assembly partner Pegatron.

The report, available as a PDF here, contains mentions of a new “low-priced” plastic iPhone that will “soon” released by Apple:

Pegatron (Shanghai) Ltd Co. is part of the Pegatron Group, which was a subsidiary of Pegatron Group until 2010. Pegatron primarily assembles cell phones and tablet PCs for Apple. Its assembled products include iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, and low-priced plastic iPhones. Some of Pegatron’s major equipment, such as micro-computer and detection hosts, is provided by Apple.

In the report, a worker details the actual process of pasting protective film on the back of this unreleased iPhone:

Today’s work is to paste protective film on the iPhone’s plastic back cover to prevent it from being scratched on assembly lines. This iPhone model with a plastic cover will soon be released on the market by Apple. The task is pretty easy, and I was able to work independently after a five-minute instruction from a veteran employee. It took around a minute to paste protective film on one rear cover. The new cell phone has not yet been put into mass production, so quantity is not as important. This makes our job more slow paced than in departments that have begun mass production schedules.

The report also contains photos and details of poor working conditions at Pegatron, to which Apple has responded with an official statement. We’ve already outlined why it’d make sense for Apple to release a low-priced iPhone, and, at this point, several signs seem to be pointing to such a device coming out later this year.