Kevin Bostic
Hon Hai Precision Industry has made some strides toward improved labor conditions, according to a new report, but the Apple supplier is still working its employees more than Chinese labor law allows.
The Fair Labor Association on Thursday released its latest evaluation on Hon Hai's (better known as Foxconn) labor practices, reports The Wall Street Journal. The FLA, a group of which Apple has been a member since 2012, found that Foxconn had complied with 98.3 percent of 360 suggested action items from the labor watchdog's last evaluation.
Where the Apple supplier fell short was in working hours, an area Apple has been pushing for its suppliers to improve. Apple's supplier code mandates a 60-hour maximum work week, but Chinese law limits the workweek to 40 hours, with 36 hours as the maximum amount of overtime per month.
Foxconn and Apple agreed to reach compliance with Chinese law by July 2013. The report, though, found that Foxconn workers were working between 40 and 60 hours per week in two facilities and between 40 and 70 hours per week at another during the weeks leading up to the launch of the latest iPhone. Those facilities employ an estimated 170,000 people.
Foxconn has made considerable progress in other areas, though. The Chinese firm improved compliance in most actionable areas, making changes to its intern policy, protecting workers from excessive heat, and building more fire escapes and toilets. The union participation rate at Foxconn facilities also improved significantly, with the percentage of worker representatives in main union committees growing from 20 percent to 40 percent.
Apple has continually pressed its suppliers to improve their labor operations over the past few years, going so far as to terminate a contract with one supplier found to be using underage workers. Among Apple's suppliers, 99 percent of the more than one million-strong workforce do not work excessive hours.
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21 Comments
Obviously this is Apple's fault. If people didn't want their products so much, they wouldn't have to beat their Chinese workers and force them to work overtime.
Where do I stand with my SAY NO TO SLAVERY sign?
Oh, and didn't these workers get pissed and threaten suicide when their work hrs were decreased?
Let's stop pretending that Foxconn= Apple. They're the supplier to almost every single tech OEM in the world. And if Foxconn is exceeding these hours, you can be sure that every single other supplier in China is too.
Interesting picture, that ain't China.
Gee no one is complaining that i am working 60+ hours some weeks and not getting any over time pay.
People in the US who work for Corporate American put in far more hours just to keep their jobs and no one is protesting in the street about this. Why is more important to worry about some Chinese workers who get paid over time (i am assuming time and half) but it is okay for us in the US to work 10 or 12 hour days and not get any over time just because we are salary.
You know I tired of all this belly aching about working long hours, When I had an hourly job and got paid time and half for over 40 hrs I looked for every opportunity to work extra hours if I could get them. I suspect the people in China are the same way, they like the extra money just like I did.
What a scandal! Stop the presses!
Somebody in China is working 40-60 hours a week!
What an outrage! This amounts to no less than human slavery!
Seriously speaking, if somebody has a problem with a 40-60 hour work week, then my suggestion would be to go and jump from the nearest roof. I certainly wouldn't give a crap.