Apple’s China factories to be investigated
The FLA team began the inspections yesterday at Foxconn City in Shenzhen, China, Apple said.
The complex employs and accommodates hundreds of thousands of workers.
Foxconn, a unit of Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, employs an estimated 1.1 million people in China at a series of huge factory campuses. Working conditions at the factories have been a focus of criticism.
Apple’s problems with Foxconn, which manufactures almost all of its devices, date back to 2010, when a string of workers committed suicide at a plant in Longhua, which employed up to 400,000 workers.
Last month, 150 Foxconn employees threatened to leap from the top of a plant in Wuhan over wages and conditions.
A New York Times story published on January 26 reported on accidents and long hours in Foxconn factories, based on workers’ accounts. Foxconn disputed allegations of back-to-back shifts and crowded living conditions.
Cupertino, California- based Apple has been conducting its own audits of working conditions at factories where its gadgets are assembled since 2006.
A month ago, it took the additional step of joining Washington-based FLA, a group of companies and universities focused on improving labour practices.
Apple is the first technology company to become a member. It committed at the time to have the FLA inspect its suppliers, who have pledged full co-operation. The FLA plans to interview thousands of employees at several Apple suppliers about working and living conditions. The audits will cover facilities where more than 90% of Apple products are assembled.
The FLA’s findings and recommendations will begin to be posted on www.fairlabor.org in early March.
“We believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair work environment, which is why we’ve asked the FLA to independently assess the performance of our largest suppliers,” Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said in a statement.
“The inspections now under way are unprecedented in the electronics industry, both in scale and scope, and we appreciate the FLA agreeing to take the unusual step of identifying the factories in their reports.”
Apple released a list of its suppliers for the first time and disclosed instances of rights violations by some manufacturers.
As part of its assessment, the FLA will interview thousands of employees about working and living conditions including health and safety, compensation, working hours and communication with management.
At Apple’s request, the FLA will also inspect Foxconn factories in Chengdu. Similar audits will be conducted at Quanta Computer Inc and Pegatron Corp later this year, the company said.
In January, Apple released a list of 156 companies that represent 97% of procurement costs, along with its annual report on factories where the iPhone, iPad and other products are made.
The FLA was set up in 1999 to monitor workplace environments globally in an initiative by former US President Bill Clinton. Its participants include Nike and Nestlé.
