Foxconn makes strides in workplace conditions, takes 284 remedial actions

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
A report released on Tuesday from the Fair Labor Association says Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn has corrected some 284 infractions, including steps to create a safer workplace, since the group last audited the factories in February.

The FLA returned to Foxconn's three factories to audit the Taiwanese company, finding that some 295 previously noted infractions had been corrected as of June, with another 254 scheduled for completion by July 2013. The company in March promised to fix the violations found by FLA inspectors.

In the worker labor standards group's "Foxconn Verification Status Report" for August 2012 notes Foxconn succeeded in completing the 284 remedial actions by their May 31 due date. The company is also ahead of schedule on the remaining changes, having completed 89 as of June 30.

?A lot of companies are looking at Foxconn?s progress with considerable interest and concern because they know how ambitious a target Foxconn has set,? FLA president and CEO Auret van Heerden told Bloomberg. ?It?s not beyond the realm of possibility that a Samsung facility will come up? in a later inspection.

FLA's independent external verification process reviewed various documentation including policies, procedures, and time and payroll expenses. In addition, a visual inspection of the facilities was executed with worker and management interviews. During the group's audit of Foxconn's Guanlan, Longhua and Chengdu plants, management allowed full, unrestricted access to facilities and documents.

?We?re getting tremendous cooperation from the union,? Van Heerden said. ?They?re aware of the improvements they need to make to their election process.?

FLA Report
Foxconn's remediation status as of June 30, 2012. | Source: Fair Labor Association


While the Chinese electronics manufacturer has taken great strides in meeting the FLA's terms, it still needs to work on compliance with Chinese labor laws regarding work hours. According to the FLA, these stipulations are among the most difficult to remedy. Foxconn employees are still subject to excessive overtime despite the company's commitment to meet the Chinese legal limit of 40 hours per week plus an average nine overtime hours.

?Continuing to cut overtime has been a key challenge, and we?ve made improvements there,? Woo said. ?There?s an accepted practice and expectation across China, not just at Foxconn, that getting overtime is not an obligation but a privilege workers would actually like to have.?

Foxconn has about 178,000 workers dedicated to making Apple devices, while another 1.3 million are building products for Sony, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    just_mejust_me Posts: 590member


    Good job

  • Reply 2 of 10
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    ?Continuing to cut overtime has been a key challenge, and we?ve made improvements there,? Woo said. ?There?s an accepted practice and expectation across China, not just at Foxconn, that getting overtime is not an obligation but a privilege workers would actually like to have.?

    Yet killing overtime is harming the people they're supposed to be helping.
    Foxconn has about 178,000 workers dedicated to making Apple devices, while another 1.3 million are building products for Sony, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco.

    Funny how the 1.3 M building products for Sony, HP, and Cisco never get mentioned. In the past, headlines about working conditions at Foxconn always talked about Apple. Now that the conditions are improved and FLA is happy, the other companies get mentioned. Funny how that works. /s
  • Reply 3 of 10
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    Yet killing overtime is harming the people they're supposed to be helping.

    Funny how the 1.3 M building products for Sony, HP, and Cisco never get mentioned. In the past, headlines about working conditions at Foxconn always talked about Apple. Now that the conditions are improved and FLA is happy, the other companies get mentioned. Funny how that works. /s




    And where are the iHating fandroid lapdogs clamoring about Samsung's child-labor practices???



    http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112672576/samsung-china-labor-watch-children-080912/ ;



    Oh.. that's right... It only matters when the company has a shiny fruit logo.  /s

  • Reply 4 of 10

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    Yet killing overtime is harming the people they're supposed to be helping.

    Funny how the 1.3 M building products for Sony, HP, and Cisco never get mentioned. In the past, headlines about working conditions at Foxconn always talked about Apple. Now that the conditions are improved and FLA is happy, the other companies get mentioned. Funny how that works. /s


    Probably because they are not working overtime due to Sony, HP, and Cisco not selling as many products as Apple does?

  • Reply 5 of 10
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member


    Tech companies being criticized for labor practises: 1 (Apple)


     


    Companies doing something about it and seeing improvement: 1


    Companies with worse labor practises and doing jack shit about it: All of them


     


    Media critisism and awareness directed at these companies: Zero. 

  • Reply 6 of 10
    845032845032 Posts: 76member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sflocal View Post




    And where are the iHating fandroid lapdogs clamoring about Samsung's child-labor practices???



    http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112672576/samsung-china-labor-watch-children-080912/ ;



    Oh.. that's right... It only matters when the company has a shiny fruit logo.  /s



     


    No child labor found in Samsung supplier: officials


    (Xinhua)


    13:33, August 10, 2012


    Authorities in South China's Guangdong Province said Thursday they found no labor law violations in a Chinese Samsung supplier that had previously been accused of using child labor.



    A statement on a local official website said the city of Huizhou launched an investigation after China Labor Watch alleged that the city's HEG Electronics Co. had employed children younger than 16.



    The firm supplies phones and other digital products to several companies, including South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co.



    The statement said that of the seven workers named by the New York-based labor rights group, two were adults and five were aged between 16 and 18 -- all above China's legal working age of 16.



    The statement also said the company of 3,100 employees was not found to have imposed excessive work hours or to have withheld workers' wages.



    China Labor Watch released a report on Tuesday accusing the Chinese firm of forcing child laborers to work 11 to 13 hours a day while paying them only 70 percent of the wages received by formal employees.



    Samsung said Thursday that it would send a team of investigators to the factory, adding that two previous checks found no irregularities in the factory's working conditions.


     


    http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90882/7905556.html

  • Reply 7 of 10


    OK. Now I know he's being paid. :lol:

  • Reply 8 of 10


    Waiting for Mike Daisey to make 284 changes to his one-man show...

  • Reply 9 of 10
    tylerk36tylerk36 Posts: 1,037member


    Ok so the government allowed manufacturing to be shipped over seas.  Now that we all depend on Foxconn for so many things we now are complaining that Foxconn is the bad guy.  Yet our own government has allowed this in the first place.  Or should we say the american people have allowed it.  Foxconn is the whore of china and china is the pimp and we are the what?? The perp.

  • Reply 10 of 10
    hmmhmm Posts: 3,405member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    Yet killing overtime is harming the people they're supposed to be helping.

    Funny how the 1.3 M building products for Sony, HP, and Cisco never get mentioned. In the past, headlines about working conditions at Foxconn always talked about Apple. Now that the conditions are improved and FLA is happy, the other companies get mentioned. Funny how that works. /s


    Ugh... did you even bother to read that this is governed by Chinese laws? Look at it this way, if this doesn't provide the necessary yields, they will have to hire more staff. This means more people will be employed. See? I can spin it too. Sometimes you post excellent information. Other times it's just very biased, and I did not go by whether or not I happened to agree point for point when I made this determination.


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sflocal View Post




    And where are the iHating fandroid lapdogs clamoring about Samsung's child-labor practices???



    http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112672576/samsung-china-labor-watch-children-080912/ ;



    Oh.. that's right... It only matters when the company has a shiny fruit logo.  /s



     


    While I'm not part of your hypothetical group I was interested in reading the article. Unfortunately the link comes up as cannot be found. I found another via google. Really I'd like to see all of this cleaned up. If this means manufacturing costs go up, I don't care. China has more to make it appealing than cheap labor. They have raw materials and infrastructure.

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