Foxconn workers question why hours are being cut after FLA review
Workers at Apple supplier Foxconn are reportedly worried after it has been announced that their hours will be cut following an audit of its facilities.
Twenty-three-year-old Wu Jun is used to working long overtime hours to earn the bulk of her income. But after Foxconn announced it will cut hours for its employees, she and other employees expressed concern to Reuters that they won't make enough money to support their families.
Foxconn announced on Thursday that it would reduce employee working hours to 49 per week, including overtime. That change is one of a number made in response to violations found by the Fair Labor Association, which audited Foxconn's facilities at the request of Apple.
FLA issued its report on Thursday, revealing that it discovered excess working times and various code violations at three Foxconn factories that were investigated. The audit reviewed 3,000 staff hours and more than 35,000 workers.
But with the changes implemented by Foxconn, employees are now concerned that their wages will also be cut. "If we work less overtime, it would mean less money," said Wu, an employee from China's Hunan province.
Another worker from Hunan, 25-year-old Chen Yamei, said she and others are there to "work and not to play." She has been an employee at Foxconn for four years, and earns about $634 per month.
"We have just been told that we can only work a maximum of 36 hours a month of overtime," she said. "I tell you, a lot of us are unhappy with this. We think that 60 hours of overtime a month would be reasonable and that 36 hours would be too little."
Apple CEO Tim Cook touring an iPhone production line at a Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, China, via MIC Gadget.
The FLA audit came about because Apple opted to join the association in January, making it the first technology company to do so. Apple's membership came as the company found itself under fire for its alignment with Foxconn.
Apple also conducts its own audits of its overseas partners. Last year, a total of 229 audits were conducted, representing an 80 percent increase over 2010.
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook himself even visited a Foxconn iPhone plant during his recent trip to China. Cook stopped by the production line at a Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, where 120,000 people are employed.
[ View article on AppleInsider ]
Comments
Perfect. Ignorant and arrogant westerners trying to tell the rest of the world how they should live. It is truly amazing how little we know and understand about other countries and cultures. Stupidity abounds. Oh, but it's for their own good don't you know.
I actually some were foolish enough to except Foxconn to start paying them the minimum of the country/state they reside in.
If they can't allow people to work as many hours then you build more dorms and hire more people. We saw the number of people lining up. Of course, now you have more idle young adults and a lot more of them in a much more crowded space. Will these myopic westerners consider the dangers of that situation?
Perfect. Ignorant and arrogant westerners trying to tell the rest of the world how they should live. It is truly amazing how little we know and understand about other countries and cultures. Stupidity abounds. Oh, but it's for their own good don't you know.
i find it much more distressing that ignorant and arrogant westerners believe that the media presents balanced viewpoints.
i find it much more distressing that ignorant and arrogant westerners believe that the media presents balanced viewpoints.
What's that got to do with the price of tea in China?
Perfect. Ignorant and arrogant westerners trying to tell the rest of the world how they should live. It is truly amazing how little we know and understand about other countries and cultures. Stupidity abounds. Oh, but it's for their own good don't you know.
Thank you! If a people have problems, they can solve them themselves.
Every time we hear Foxconn, we get this Apocalypto image of people being dragged from their quaint peaceful neighborhoods to forcefully work for Apple's fat American customers. When in reality, people flock to Foxconn in buses and wait for days on end for an opportunity to work there, they even fake their own IDs just to be admitted.
Perfect. Ignorant and arrogant westerners trying to tell the rest of the world how they should live. It is truly amazing how little we know and understand about other countries and cultures. Stupidity abounds. Oh, but it's for their own good don't you know.
Actually, we kind of do know what we're doing. There is such a thing as repetitive stress injury (RSI) that will occur if these people continue to work assembly lines 60+ hours/week. If you want your iPhone so cheap that you want workers in another country maimed for life, you are sub-human. There is nothing whatsoever stupid about cutting their time to 49 hours a week. Oh, and by the way, 49 hours/week is the law there. So your objection about westerners not knowing about eastern cultures falls badly flat. Grow up and learn something.
Good intentions pave a lot of roads.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions
Thank you! If a people have problems, they can solve them themselves.
They did solve it themselves. The law there says they should only be working 49 hours/week. Way to ignore this fundamental fact of the situation.
They did solve it themselves. The law there says they should only be working 49 hours/week. Way to ignore this fundamental fact of the situation.
However, regardless of whatever law was passed by whomever. The people directly affected are now wondering why they can't work more hours. This is also a "fundamental fact of the situation."
In US, the news has reported that many San Jose police work as security guards for private companies. I wonder what is the answer of FLA for this?
Law that limit numbers of working hours is directed at employers so they can not exploit workers. It is not the situation here. I wonder FLA really understand the law. I really think many people have their own secret selfish agenda against Apple.
They did solve it themselves. The law there says they should only be working 49 hours/week. Way to ignore this fundamental fact of the situation.
I didn't say that they did or didn't nor was what you quoted referring to Chinese people in particular, hence the term "a people".
Perfect. Ignorant and arrogant westerners trying to tell the rest of the world how they should live. It is truly amazing how little we know and understand about other countries and cultures. Stupidity abounds. Oh, but it's for their own good don't you know.
Just to nitpick a bit -- I don't think it has anything to do with culture. I think it's a lack of hard-headedness on the part of people with good intentions.
I remember a story about a first lady back in the 19th century who was upset by the low quality housing that poor people had in a part of DC. She led a campaign to solve the problem by tearing down the houses, but without doing anything to provide better houses. Unbelievably, she didn't consider that maybe a crappy house is better than none at all.
This Foxconn thing strikes me as a similar situation. This isn't slavery or prison labor. That is, these folks are choosing to work at Foxconn because it's a better option than anything else they could do. If you're going to lead a campaign to take their jobs away from them, then you better also be leading a campaign to get them a better job. But obviously that's a lot of work -- far easier to just whine.
Actually, we kind of do know what we're doing. There is such a thing as repetitive stress injury (RSI) that will occur if these people continue to work assembly lines 60+ hours/week. If you want your iPhone so cheap that you want workers in another country maimed for life, you are sub-human. There is nothing whatsoever stupid about cutting their time to 49 hours a week. Oh, and by the way, 49 hours/week is the law there. So your objection about westerners not knowing about eastern cultures falls badly flat. Grow up and learn something.
Ah yes, welcome to the selfrightious and ignorant class. I've got big news for you. Everyone that works long hours doesn't get repetitive stress injuries. Further some people who work "normal hours" get RSI. I've worked in both auto plants and steel mills in the US and worked way more than 49 hour weeks on a regular basis and was damn glad to have the work. And don't even try to talk about what is "legal" in China as you are truly showing your ignorance of the culture. I'm an American living and teaching in China and can assure you that the last thing these workers need is your 2 cents from the soapbox.
Just to nitpick a bit -- I don't think it has anything to do with culture. I think it's a lack of hard-headedness on the part of people with good intentions.
I remember a story about a first lady back in the 19th century who was upset by the low quality housing that poor people had in a part of DC. She led a campaign to solve the problem by tearing down the houses, but without doing anything to provide better houses. Unbelievably, she didn't consider that maybe a crappy house is better than none at all.
This Foxconn thing strikes me as a similar situation. This isn't slavery or prison labor. That is, these folks are choosing to work at Foxconn because it's a better option than anything else they could do. If you're going to lead a campaign to take their jobs away from them, then you better also be leading a campaign to get them a better job. But obviously that's a lot of work -- far easier to just whine.
This.
Perfect. Ignorant and arrogant westerners trying to tell the rest of the world how they should live. It is truly amazing how little we know and understand about other countries and cultures. Stupidity abounds. Oh, but it's for their own good don't you know.
amen! why don't we just raise prices on all goods manufactured outside U.S. so those idiots concerned about working conditions abroad are happy.