Excess working time and poor safety found at Apple’s Chinese supplier factories
Technology giant Apple has agreed to improve health and safety conditions, worker involvement and pay for employees at three factories in China operated by one of its major suppliers previously criticised for its treatment of staff.
Following publication of the results of an investigation by the Fair Labour Association (FLA) Apple and supplier Foxconn committed to reducing working hours to legal limits while protecting pay, addressing workplace injuries and accidents, and establishing a genuine voice for workers.
The month-long investigation by the FLA – to which Apple agreed after a Foxconn plant in Shenzen experienced a spate of suicides in 2010 and another, in Suzhou, saw more than a hundred workers suffer adverse health effects from exposure to chemicals last year – found excessive overtime being worked without adequate compensation, and various health and safety risks.
The latter included workplace-transport incidents, hand injuries, lack of PPE, and blocked exits. In all, more than 43 per cent of workers reported that they had experienced, or witnessed a workplace accident. However, the FLA found that Foxconn only recorded those that resulted in a production stoppage. The company has now committed to requiring supervisors and workers to report all incidents resulting in an injury.
With regard to working time, all three factories (at Guanlan, Longhua and Chengdu) were found to have exceeded the FLA’s standard of 60 hours per week (plus regular overtime) and Chinese legal limits of 40 hours per week. Foxconn has now agreed to bring its factories into full compliance with Chinese legal limits and FLA standards by July 2013. It has also pledged to offer a compensation package for workers to offset the loss of income from reduced overtime.
Auret van Heerden, president and CEO of FLA, commented: “[We] gave Apple’s largest supplier the equivalent of a full-body scan through 3000 staff hours, investigating three of its factories and surveying more than 35,000 workers. Apple and Foxconn have agreed to our prescriptions, and we will verify progress and report publicly.
Regarding the commitments to improvement made by Apple and Foxconn, van Heerden added: “If implemented, they will significantly improve the lives of more than 1.2 million Foxconn employees and set a new standard for Chinese factories.”
However, New York-based advocacy group China Labor Watch said the report failed to address the workers’ main concerns. Director Li Qiang said: “Until Apple shares a larger proportion of its profits with its supplier factories workers will receive the same pittance for a salary while working round the clock.”
There has also been criticism of the FLA – a coalition of universities, non-profit organisations and businesses committed to improving the health, safety, fair treatment and respect of workers worldwide. Said van Heerden: “Joining the Fair Labor Association is voluntary. But once a company joins, FLA sets the rules of investigations and has full access to any supplier, owns the information collected and publishes its findings and recommendations for remedial action.”
The full report is available at www.fairlabor.org/transparency/complaints-investigations
Excess working time and poor safety found at Apple’s Chinese supplier factories
Technology giant Apple has agreed to improve health and safety conditions, worker involvement and pay for employees at three factories in China operated by one of its major suppliers previously criticised for its treatment of staff.
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