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Apple's industry-leading membership in the Fair Labor Association (FLA), which promised audits of Chinese companies that acted as suppliers to a number of electronics manufacturers including the iPad maker, has resulted in a progress report that finds evidence of genuine progress. The report found substantial improvements, including some ahead of schedule.
Little has changed at Foxconn since it and Apple agreed to make changes in the wake of a Fair Labor Association report, says Student & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour. The activist group recently visited several Foxconn factories and interviewed 170 workers, and claims that rights violations "remain the norm," involving high production targets, inhumane treatment, and evidence of broad salary cuts. "The frontline management continue to impose humiliating disciplinary measures on workers," a SACOM report reads.
The Fair Labor Association has announced the results of its investigation into labor problems at Apple's major manufacturing partner, Foxconn. The full probe is said to have taken almost a month, and found "excessive overtime and problems with overtime compensation; several health and safety risks; and crucial communication gaps that have led to a widespread sense of unsafe working conditions among workers," according to the FLA.
ABC's recent Nightline story that showed exactly how Apple's iOS devices are put together in factories in China revealed little that was unknown to tech-savvy viewers, and was generally perceived as even-handed and non-sensationalistic in showing the plusses and minuses for workers. The network has since, however, appended some comments from Apple, Foxconn and the Fair Labor Association on minor points in the report.
Underage Foxconn workers were transferred to other departments or not scheduled to work overtime in advance of inspections by the Fair Labor Association, an activist group tells AppleInsider. Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior project officer Debby Sze Wan Chan says that last week, she heard from two Foxconn workers in Zhenghou who said the company prepared itself before the FLA arrived. "All underage workers, between 16-17 years old, were not assigned any overtime work and some of them were even sent to other departments," Chan claims.
The ABC TV network has announced that it will be screening a special edition of Nightline next week focusing on working conditions in Apple’s supply chain. The network received special permission from Apple, giving it rare media access to the inner workings of where Apple’s products are made. Network anchor Bill Weir took a film crew with him into factories on Shenzhen China, claiming that he is the first journalist to ever get a look inside.
Fair Labor Association chief Auret van Heerden updated his opinions in a conversation on Friday that signaled possibly drastic action ahead. In talking to Bloomberg, he partly rescinded an earlier warm reaction and said the group was "finding tons of issues" at the contract manufacturer. He wouldn't say what these were, but he anticipated "very significant announcements" soon.
Activist group SumOfUs has issued a statement criticizing the president of the Fair Labor Association, Auret van Heerden, for initially approving of Foxconn factory conditions. Even though the FLA is just beginning its study, based on early tours, van Heerden has already claimed that Foxconn plants are "first-class" with conditions "way, way above average of the norm." A finished FLA report is only due in early March.
