Apple Boss At Plant Run By Under-Fire Foxconn

Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) chief executive Tim Cook has visited an iPhone production plant run by Foxconn Technology Group, which has faced widespread criticism over its treatment of workers.

Allegations of abuse stretch back to 2010 when 13 workers apparently committed suicide at one plant amidst claims that the company ran military-style production lines on which employees were forced to work overtime for low wages.

In 2011, Foxconn again faced criticism after a fire at another plant left four people dead.

Foxconn factories across China assemble most of Apple's iPhones and iPads.

Mr Cook met workers at the newly-built Foxconn ZhengzhouTechnology Park in the north central province of Hebei, which employs 120,000 people, according to Apple.

Before Mr Cook's visit, an activist group from Hong Kong published an open letter, demanding "that Apple ensure decent working conditions at all its suppliers".

In the letter, Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour listed grievances cited by employees at Apple suppliers, including "poverty wages" and excessive and forced overtime.

"They describe their daily routine as work, eat and sleep. They described themselves as machines that repeated the same monotonous motion for thousands (of) times a day," the letter said.

"With all its success in the global marketplace, Apple undoubtedly has (the) ability to rectify these problems."

In February, Mr Cook said the Fair Labour Association - an auditor funded in part by companies that use its services - would be given "unprecedented" access to assess the performance of its suppliers - including Foxconn.

China is Apple's biggest manufacturing hub and largest potential market, but the company has been losing ground in the smartphone war there to rival Samsung and is embroiled in a legal dispute over the iPad trademark.

Mr Cook's itinerary in China has also included talks with vice premier Li Keqiang, Beijing's mayor, and a visit to one of Apple's two stores in the capital.

State media reported that Mr Li told the Apple CEO that China would boost intellectual property protection.

"To be more open to the outside is a condition for China to transform its economic development, expand domestic demands and conduct technological innovation," Xinhua news quoted the vice premier as saying.