Apple reports 99% of its suppliers comply with 60-hour workweek limit

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Apple on Wednesday updated its Supplier Responsibility webpage to reflect a change in how manufacturers deal with the company's 60-hour workweek limit, noting that a 99 percent rate of compliance was achieved in January.

Work Hours


According to Apple's Supplier Work-Hour Compliance study, which as of January 2013 tracks over one million employees, the 99 percent compliance rate factors into a 92 percent average of suppliers that adhered to the company's Code of Conduct over all work weeks. Over the same period, the average time an employee worked per week was under 50 hours.

As noted by UK tech site V3, Apple limits normal working time to 60 hours a week except in "unusual circumstances," like seasonal high demand or ramp up for new products.

Worker protection laws in China, where a bulk of Apple's suppliers are located, mandate that employers pay overtime wages to employees working over 40 hours per week. In addition to the Chinese rules, Apple requires that all overtime hours must be voluntary.

The latest monthly update comes on the heels of a report that said Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn initiated a hiring freeze until the end of March. At the time, it was speculated that the move was related to slow iPhone 5 sales, but those rumors were dispelled and the freeze was blamed on the unusually high number of employees who returned to work after the Chinese New Year.

Apple's report is part of ongoing efforts to improve workplace conditions in its suppliers' factories. In January, the company released its yearly Supplier Responsibility Report, which showed improvements in health and safety, labor, and environmental concerns.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    I bet Tim Cook doesn't comply with that limit. He must work at least an 80 hour week! ;)
  • Reply 2 of 13
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,096member
    The heading should read "Apple reports 1% of its suppliers do not comply with 60-hour work week"

    After all, that's the only thing that the iHaters and Wallstreet a$$hats see.

    /s
  • Reply 3 of 13
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member


    Apple reports 99% of its suppliers comply with 60-hour workweek limit


    Not acceptable!


     


    Build us MOAR gadgets!

  • Reply 4 of 13
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by otterfish View Post



    I bet Tim Cook doesn't comply with that limit. He must work at least an 80 hour week! image


    Also, when he was younger, Steve Jobs used to not go home for several days, just sleep under his desk each night.

  • Reply 5 of 13


    The one thing Samsung won't copy

  • Reply 6 of 13
    bigmikebigmike Posts: 266member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by GTR View Post


    Apple reports 99% of its suppliers comply with 60-hour workweek limit


    Not acceptable!


     


    Build us MOAR gadgets!



     


    MOAR?

  • Reply 7 of 13
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sflocal View Post



    The heading should read "Apple reports 1% of its suppliers do not comply with 60-hour work week"



    After all, that's the only thing that the iHaters and Wallstreet a$$hats see.



    /s


     


    That's the idiocy of the iHaters isn't it? They'll harp and whine about this stuff and then turn right around and claim iOS device demand is tanking and Apple is collapsing before our eyes. That would imply Apple suppliers don't need to work even forty hours a week wouldn't it? They should be laying people off, right?


     


    The cognitive dissonance of these people is scary. Their brains must be seriously short circuited by the defective RDF they live in.

  • Reply 8 of 13
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    sflocal wrote: »
    The heading should read "Apple reports 1% of its suppliers do not comply with 60-hour work week"

    After all, that's the only thing that the iHaters and Wallstreet a$$hats see.

    /s

    Oh, no. Not even close. It will be more like:

    THOUSANDS OF APPLE WORKERS WORKING SLAVE HOURS.
  • Reply 9 of 13
    freerangefreerange Posts: 1,597member
    The irony of all this talk by the iHaters about Apple and "slave labor" is that, in fact, there is NO LEGAL LIMIT on hours worked in the US. There is also NO LEGAL LIMIT on forced overtime in the US! Yet somehow we think we should be telling other countries how to conduct their business. These workers make more in a month than their entire family makes in a year, and now they wonder why they are being punished by not being able to work more hours.
  • Reply 10 of 13
    tkell31tkell31 Posts: 216member


    I'm impressed the people reading this take out of it that demand is good instead of the human rights angle which is the whole point.  Go work in a factory for 60 hours a week and see how "great" it is.  Now do it for room and board and if that isnt slave labor I dont know what is.  Buy hey, you think about it however you want.

  • Reply 11 of 13
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by tkell31 View Post

    I'm impressed the people reading this take out of it that demand is good instead of the human rights angle which is the whole point.  Go work in a factory for 60 hours a week and see how "great" it is.  Now do it for room and board and if that isnt slave labor I dont know what is.  Buy hey, you think about it however you want.


     


    Except they want to work more than they are now being allowed and have stated as such.

  • Reply 12 of 13

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by tkell31 View Post


    I'm impressed the people reading this take out of it that demand is good instead of the human rights angle which is the whole point.  Go work in a factory for 60 hours a week and see how "great" it is.  Now do it for room and board and if that isnt slave labor I dont know what is.  Buy hey, you think about it however you want.





    Or imagine you're poor with a family to support and all you know is that some smug self-satisfied jack*sses in some other country that have no idea about your life have agitated that you shouldn't be able to decide for yourself how much to work.  All so they can feel good about themselves 'doing good'. 

  • Reply 13 of 13
    12 hour days...five days a week? They do get a weekend now don't they?

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