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Apple manufacturer Foxconn improves on Chinese workers' hours and safety Apple manufacturer Foxconn improves on Chinese workers' hours and safety
(2 months later)
Foxconn, Apple's top manufacturer, has improved safety conditions and cut working hours in an effort to resolve violations at its plants that triggered a global scandal for the iPad and iPhone maker.Foxconn, Apple's top manufacturer, has improved safety conditions and cut working hours in an effort to resolve violations at its plants that triggered a global scandal for the iPad and iPhone maker.
The Taiwanese company submitted to an audit by an independent group, the Fair Labor Association (FLA), after reports of suicides and abusive conditions at several of its factories in China.The Taiwanese company submitted to an audit by an independent group, the Fair Labor Association (FLA), after reports of suicides and abusive conditions at several of its factories in China.
Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, asked the FLA to investigate after a series of reports into working conditions at Apple's key supplier. In February and march the FLA found at least 50 violations of local regulations at Foxconn plants in Chengdu, Guanlan and Longhua.Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, asked the FLA to investigate after a series of reports into working conditions at Apple's key supplier. In February and march the FLA found at least 50 violations of local regulations at Foxconn plants in Chengdu, Guanlan and Longhua.
The FLA said Foxconn had made significant improvements such as introducing more breaks and better maintenance of safety equipment. The company more than doubled wages after protests from worker groups and is backing a local law adjustment that will extend unemployment insurance.The FLA said Foxconn had made significant improvements such as introducing more breaks and better maintenance of safety equipment. The company more than doubled wages after protests from worker groups and is backing a local law adjustment that will extend unemployment insurance.
Foxconn had completed all the 195 actions that were due at the time of the FLA's report and another 89 action items were completed ahead of their deadline, according to the FLA. Another 76 actions are due over the course of the next year.Foxconn had completed all the 195 actions that were due at the time of the FLA's report and another 89 action items were completed ahead of their deadline, according to the FLA. Another 76 actions are due over the course of the next year.
But the FLA said Foxconn faces more challenges in the coming months. Foxconn has reduced hours to under 60 per week including overtime and is aiming to reach full compliance with the Chinese legal limit of 40 hours per week plus an average of nine hours of overtime per week.But the FLA said Foxconn faces more challenges in the coming months. Foxconn has reduced hours to under 60 per week including overtime and is aiming to reach full compliance with the Chinese legal limit of 40 hours per week plus an average of nine hours of overtime per week.
"The next phase of improvements will be challenging for Foxconn because they involve major changes in the working environment that will inevitably cause uncertainty and anxiety among workers. As Foxconn prepares to comply with the Chinese legal limits on work hours, consultation with workers on the changes and implications will be critical to a successful transition," said FLA president Auret van Heerden."The next phase of improvements will be challenging for Foxconn because they involve major changes in the working environment that will inevitably cause uncertainty and anxiety among workers. As Foxconn prepares to comply with the Chinese legal limits on work hours, consultation with workers on the changes and implications will be critical to a successful transition," said FLA president Auret van Heerden.
Foxconn is the world's biggest electronics contract manufacturer. As well as being Apple's largest supplier Foxconn, which employs about a million people, makes products for Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems and others.Foxconn is the world's biggest electronics contract manufacturer. As well as being Apple's largest supplier Foxconn, which employs about a million people, makes products for Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems and others.
Criticism of the company has been mounting for years. In 2009 a 25-year-old worker committed suicide, reportedly after losing an iPhone prototype. After a spate of suicides Foxconn installed nets around the edges of some buildings to prevent people jumping off roofs.Criticism of the company has been mounting for years. In 2009 a 25-year-old worker committed suicide, reportedly after losing an iPhone prototype. After a spate of suicides Foxconn installed nets around the edges of some buildings to prevent people jumping off roofs.
In January following a New York Times article that documented problems inside its supplier factories Cook emailed staff worldwide to say: "we care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern. Any suggestion that we don't care is patently false and offensive to us."In January following a New York Times article that documented problems inside its supplier factories Cook emailed staff worldwide to say: "we care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern. Any suggestion that we don't care is patently false and offensive to us."
Comments
39 comments, displaying first
21 August 2012 10:59PM
I am missing Samsung in this story. It hasn't been mentioned yet they invested $4B in their Texas chip factory, while Apple keeps investing money in China. Isn't it a bit strange that a Korean company invests in American factories and employment, while an American factory invests in overseas employment? Strange that American customers care more about the status of their product, than employment for their fellow Americans.
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21 August 2012 11:14PM
Great, we can all now buy our iProducts without worrying about the conditions of those who made it.
Oh wait, we didn't before.
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22 August 2012 12:17AM
apple PR is awesome.
how the most valuable company in the world can be commonly regarded as more ethical than microsoft, where the gates foundation has given anay many billions is truly a triumph of the dark arts of marketing, propaganda and spin that goebbels himself would be proud of.
'they look so nice, they must be made by pixies and cool hippies in LA'
bollox - slave labour in china, and where is Jobs's contibution to relieving world poverty, Aids or global sanitation and vaccination issues?
astonishing.
someone should do a full expose on them, Maybe a left-leaning newspaper with a history of standing up for the underdog and exposing hypocrisy.
might be a little close to home though.
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22 August 2012 12:24AM
Whoopy doo, they where caught so they fixed it . How many other things are they and other companies knowingly doing wrong. Then play dumb until they are taken to task.
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22 August 2012 1:30AM
the hypocrisy in western peoples mindset never fails to irritate me. Do you know that most people in third world countries are very happy and thankful to get work opportunity even under questionable safety regimes. people are in these places because it is better than not working not because they are forced to work there. Of course safety rules in developing countries will get better, but they will take their own due-course. we dont need meddling as if it is some kind of westerners "pet causes" tochampion. Down the line with the increased cost of the safety regulations the employees will have to pay for it by earning less or some other way.
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22 August 2012 2:30AM
Down the line with the increased cost of the safety regulations the employees will have to pay for it by earning less or some other way.
Western liberals couldn't care less about the real-world implications of their moral posturing.
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22 August 2012 2:31AM
Chip factories are nowhere near as labor intensive as assembly lines. The sad thing is that only a fraction of the cost your iProducts goes towards final assembly.
Productivity increases through automation could potentially offset some of the rising labor costs, which should mean more capital investment.
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22 August 2012 2:34AM
" improves on Chinese workers' hours"? ——YES, i believe.
" improves on Chinese workers' safety"?—— SORRY, I doubt.
Buried in the sea day long time working of which, where there are safe to speak of?
Rapid market growth leads to a larger number of producers, or much more longer working-time. The workers keep wasting their whole body to earn money.
Improve Their Safety? Burning body is safety?
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22 August 2012 2:51AM
"people are in these places because it is better than not working not because they are forced to work there"
this is a difficult subject, but that oversimplifies to hell. It is the same argument that was used about 8 year olds going up chimneys and down mines.
Rich people do have a moral responsibility to the poor, and it must ultimately involve the rich transferring some wealth to the poor. The mechanism for doing this in a capitalist 'greediest-takes-all' system (which includes the oligarchical capitalism we are increasingly seeing in the west, and the state capitalism of Chine) is not simple, and of course there are backwashes onto some of the poor, but that is no reason at all for not pursuing Apple firstly, and state-sanctioned monsters like Foxcom secondly, as fiercely as possible.
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22 August 2012 2:58AM
I look forward to your piece on "How The Liberal Push For The End of Slavery Forced The Negro Out Of Regular Employment ", or possibly "How The End Of Child Labour Left The Youngsters Of Britain With Nothing To Do"..
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22 August 2012 3:19AM
Bravo. Couldn't have said it better myself. Unbelievable the degree to which the Apple cultists go to try and spin obvious failings as "benefits".
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22 August 2012 3:43AM
So are Apple volunteering to pay lots more for their goods then? Since they are the richest company ever or whatever it was being reported the other day?
Maybe they could shift manufacturing to somewhere else that has, y'know, employment laws.
It goes to show how hypocritical we all are over this. How Apple get away with this I don't really understand.
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22 August 2012 4:02AM
Could never understand the heroic worship of Steve 'Jobs' in the US media. His company employed 1 milion in China and only 40,000 in the US.
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22 August 2012 4:17AM
Jon Stewart - of the Daily Show fame, did an excellent sketch on the Apple- Foxconn a while back.
I have had a look on youtube so I can post it on here but I can't seem to find it anywhere. It is a must watch.
Appalling treatment meted to fellow human beings for a few extra bob.
This is what my Conservative overlords actually mean when they start moaning about being competitive, the labour market not being flexible enough, removing bureaucratic red tape and workers being lazy.
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22 August 2012 4:44AM
These Apple/Foxconn articles are getting tedious now. Apple is just one customer for Foxconn, who also make products for the following companies: Acer, Amazon, Cisco, Dell, HP, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Nintendo, Nokia, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, or Vizio. There are others too. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn)
So if you want to boycott Apple or slam them for their use of "slave labour" then you're going to have to do the same for pretty much all other manufacturers of similar products.
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22 August 2012 5:03AM
abebebesobela 22 August 2012 1:30AM
the hypocrisy in western peoples mindset never fails to irritate me. Do you know that most people in third world countries are very happy and thankful to get work opportunity even under questionable safety regimes. people are in these places because it is better than not working not because they are forced to work there.
You complain about the West, yet you try and emulate it's lifestyle of earning money and buy nice goodies? Isn't it better to be self sufficient, have your own plot of land and grow your own food, and have your own live-stock? I think this has been replaced by having your own flashy car and gadgets.
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22 August 2012 6:30AM
I wish to thank the FLA for helping to improve the lots of the Chinese workers. They have doubled their salaries in five years, work in the fabulously clean environment of a Foxcom factory, can chose to live in a cheap dormitory, and on well prepared food. I wish the FLA have as much compassion for the poor American workers who had to work 90 hours a week in Steve Job's Apple, according to his biography. In these days of high unemployment and stagnate wages in the US, some poor souls have to hold two jobs to make their ends meet. Have some heart, do a report on their fate. There is no indication that the conditions of US workers are improving, as matters stand.
Foxcom has to thank FLA for limiting overtime too, since Chinese law mandates employers have to pay double (triple on holidays) for overtime. They can hire more people and save on the bottom line.
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22 August 2012 6:41AM
Who cares that Chinese slaves make an I phone for $20 and we pay $1000 so we look cool, who cares they are locked in factories working 120 hours a week. None of us do we are all so concerned with having as much money as we can get for ourselves. It's a joke the whole crazy world is a joke best thing for us would be a massive meteorite to wipe us all out.
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22 August 2012 8:17AM
That's quite a partial reading of the situation. Samsung's Austin TX plant makes ALL the custom silicon for Apple's iPhones and iPads. So Apple is indirectly responsible for all those US manufacturing jobs. They wouldn't need to expand their factory quite so much without Apple, certainly. And let's not include the multi-billion $ investment in US data-centres in North Carolina, Oregon and Nevada...
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22 August 2012 8:17AM
A true metaphor for the modern world: poor foreign workers, stripped of their liberties and forced to make our the playthings of the wealthy first world. This is viewed with complete apathy by the people in our countries such as ours. We like to point to our iphones as a sign of the advancement of the human race and this is true, but for all the wrong reasons.
If this is not a crime then what is ?
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22 August 2012 8:31AM
As already stated, the list of companies that use Foxconn is vast, and to blame Apple is a nice easy approach for people who love to slam iWhatever at any opportunity. The XBOX, PS3 and Kindle that you love uses parts made right beside parts for Apple.
Holding all these companies accountable is the best way to draw yet more attention to this company, though it's a change to employmwnt laws in China that is really needed. m Good luck with that...
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22 August 2012 8:51AM
Oh come off it Guardian. Has Foxconn and Apple begun adhereing to the rights laid down convention 87 and 98, oh wait they haven't but sure who needs the righ to join a union and bargain collectively, when they have an AUDIT to protect them !!!!!!!!!!!!!
An audit is a snapshot in time, a box ticking exercise, and a pr tool. It does not relect the reality faced by workers in any workplace which needs to monitored 24 hours a day 365 days. Auditing as a method for the monitoring of human rights is completely discredited, and only serves to demonstrate how far away APPLE and the FLA are in terms of actually seeking to improve respect for interenational labour standards. Audits are normally pre-arranged, they consist of someone with a flipchart walking through a factory, interviewing workers who are either coached by the employer to give a good impression of the workplace or interviewed in the presence of management limiting any critical views expressed. If a worker has the bravery to speak out they will be sacked, this is the norm. An audit will normally look at things such as health and safety where they have had some improvements, but of course after an audit is completed the company knows that they are unlikely to be audited again for some period, especially now that companies are sharing audit reports through an exchange system, which means that until they are notified of the next audit the normal management system will apply, that model is abuse, fear and exploitation.
Furthermore the FLA does not support a living wage, these workers are not receiveing a living wage, a good measure of how unequal things are is to look at the hours worked by a foxconn production line employee and their pay on an annual basis then compare that with one of the tech firms CEOs and you get how unjust, immoral and unethical the model of econnomics followed by these companies and supported by us consumers really is. For example for all those buying adidas products for the olympics, a women producing those goods in sri lanka would have to work 14,000 years to earn what the ceo of adidas takes home in a year.
A truer test of Apple's regard for human rights and working conditions will be how it reacts to real trade unionism in Brazil, I think they might find it a shock to the system and more bad press will follow. However, if you look at other global brands such as Nike, after fighting the unions and labour rights ngos for so long they shifted in policy to engagement with unions and improvements have and are being secured by unions for workers in their supply chain.
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22 August 2012 9:19AM
if you don't like a job you can leave. No was forcing these people to work there.
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22 August 2012 9:41AM
no it was only the other human rights, yeah those pesky right to a trade union type of thing
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22 August 2012 9:45AM
if you don't like a job you can leave. No was forcing these people to work there.
*brainsplode*
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22 August 2012 9:48AM
Productivity increases through automation could potentially offset some of the rising labor costs, which should mean more capital investment.
It does not suit the Chinese government to shed labour and replace it with automation at this stage of their economic development.
100s of millions of people have relocated from countryside to cities, and without jobs, even quite bad jobs, it's a disaster waiting to happen.
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22 August 2012 9:49AM
No was forcing these people to work there.
I probably shouldn't take the bait, because if you don't eventually realise, of your own accord, what an ignorant and inhumane statement you've just made, no line of reasoning is going to help.
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22 August 2012 10:00AM
Your misanthropy is admirable Deckard675, but surely a more reasonable wish would be for people to stop consuming in the voracious manner that we have been for the last 50 years. The concept of growth in economic terms refers to an unending need for the destruction of natural resources and the exploitation of other human beings to supply cheap labour. We need to start thinking about an alternative to this madness.
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22 August 2012 10:03AM
The other problem is the lack of a proper legal system:
Yes, Foxconn should obey Chine labour law. But Apple, and their auditors, are not an enforcement body. Chinese province and city officials ought to police workplace standards.
If the authorities deliberately ignore the law, preferrring the income flowing from abroad, Apple and western consumers are not the root cause of the problem. For every high profile case with all its publicity, there are 1000s of smaller companies where conditions are very much worse.
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22 August 2012 10:22AM
So, does this move protect workers in China, or workers in the west? The whole reason for manufacturing being exported to China was lower costs - provided by poor wages, long hours, poor safety. If we address these issues, manufacturing will either move somewhere cheaper and less regulated - again - or back to the west.
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22 August 2012 11:06AM
Scum
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22 August 2012 12:17PM
Andrew, they are not scum. They are people working very long hours in very unpleasant conditions (didn't you hear about the suicides?) They are doing that because the need the jobs. The question is whether changing the economics of the situation by addressing these issues is actually intended to help them, or intended to send their jobs to other countries again (just as happened to people in the west earlier). My bet is the latter. Big Business is looking for new lower-cost countries to exploit.
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22 August 2012 1:00PM
Western liberals couldn't care less about the real-world implications of their moral posturing
Western rightwingers couldn't care less about the real-world implications of their immoral posturing
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22 August 2012 1:48PM
@UnevenSurface
Yes, there were suicides at the Foxconn plant. However, the suicide rate at the factory is lower than that in the Chinese population as a whole (http://www.economist.com/node/16231588). There are almost a million workers there, too. I'm not defending Foxconn, but in reality the suicides aren't terribly surprising.
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22 August 2012 4:39PM
Except Apple are sitting on a boatload of cash and are making money hand over fist. It doesn't excuse the other companies you listed one bit, but it does increase the moral pressure on them.
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22 August 2012 6:01PM
BUY OUR PHONES....
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22 August 2012 6:57PM
but Samsung could have easily spent that $4b in China. Probably cheaper for them too
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22 August 2012 7:07PM
but Samsung could have easily spent the $4b in China instead of Texas. probably cheaper for Samsung too
got this wrong the first time. sorry
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23 August 2012 3:15PM
No mention of the increased use of robots and reduced number of workers.
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Comments on this page are now closed.
Apple supplier audit begins with Foxconn plant
13 Feb 2012
Fair Labor Association begins independent inspections of tech giant's suppliers after criticism over alleged abuses of workers. By Charles Arthur
1 Apr 2012
Foxconn 'work placement' proves grim experience for one Chinese student
2 Jun 2010
Steve Jobs says Foxconn in China 'not a sweatshop' after worker deaths
20 Feb 2012
Foxconn lifts wages for workers 25% as Apple lets ABC News into plants
30 Mar 2012
Audit finds Apple's Chinese factories in violation of employment laws - video
Foxconn raises pay rates again at Chinese factory
1 Oct 2010
Pay for most workers at notorious Shenzhen base to increase by two-thirds following number of suicides
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Facing mounting criticism, factories have made significant changes, but bigger steps are ahead for electronics supplier
Foxconn, Apple's top manufacturer, has improved safety conditions and cut working hours in an effort to resolve violations at its plants that triggered a global scandal for the iPad and iPhone maker.
The Taiwanese company submitted to an audit by an independent group, the Fair Labor Association (FLA), after reports of suicides and abusive conditions at several of its factories in China.
Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, asked the FLA to investigate after a series of reports into working conditions at Apple's key supplier. In February and march the FLA found at least 50 violations of local regulations at Foxconn plants in Chengdu, Guanlan and Longhua.
The FLA said Foxconn had made significant improvements such as introducing more breaks and better maintenance of safety equipment. The company more than doubled wages after protests from worker groups and is backing a local law adjustment that will extend unemployment insurance.
Foxconn had completed all the 195 actions that were due at the time of the FLA's report and another 89 action items were completed ahead of their deadline, according to the FLA. Another 76 actions are due over the course of the next year.
But the FLA said Foxconn faces more challenges in the coming months. Foxconn has reduced hours to under 60 per week including overtime and is aiming to reach full compliance with the Chinese legal limit of 40 hours per week plus an average of nine hours of overtime per week.
"The next phase of improvements will be challenging for Foxconn because they involve major changes in the working environment that will inevitably cause uncertainty and anxiety among workers. As Foxconn prepares to comply with the Chinese legal limits on work hours, consultation with workers on the changes and implications will be critical to a successful transition," said FLA president Auret van Heerden.
Foxconn is the world's biggest electronics contract manufacturer. As well as being Apple's largest supplier Foxconn, which employs about a million people, makes products for Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems and others.
Criticism of the company has been mounting for years. In 2009 a 25-year-old worker committed suicide, reportedly after losing an iPhone prototype. After a spate of suicides Foxconn installed nets around the edges of some buildings to prevent people jumping off roofs.
In January following a New York Times article that documented problems inside its supplier factories Cook emailed staff worldwide to say: "we care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern. Any suggestion that we don't care is patently false and offensive to us."