FLA: Better Pay, Working Conditions for Apple Chinese Assemblers
There'll be no more unpaid overtime work on Foxconn facilities in China in the coming months, according to Fair Labor Association (FLA), which has been commissioned by Apple to conduct audits on its partner Chinese assemblers.
Owned and operated by Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry, Foxconn, its main campus located in Shenzhen, China, got the attention of the world when media reports emerged over the past two years that Chinese workers putting together iPads and iPhones were not getting their fair shares of Apple's incredible success.
As the American tech firm continues to leave behind its rival and rake in billions, news of Foxconn workers getting little for working more than 60 hours each week came out, infuriating labour advocates.
Soon enough accusations swirled that Apple look the other way as deaths and injuries due to suicides and accidents marred the operations of its assembly plants in China, where the company transferred its manufacturing functions to realise higher profits, which it did.
By the first quarter of 2012, Apple became the biggest company in the world, in terms of market capitalisation, breaching this March the $600 billion mark - one of the few firms that achieved the feat - while its stock achieved the values of more than $600 per share.
But Apple chief executive Tim Cook, who visited Foxconn Wednesday this week, ramped up efforts by the firm to uplift the working condition of its Chinese assembly workers.
Highlighting the reforms was Apple's joining of the FLA, a labour advocacy group that draws its funding from member firms.
And earlier this year, Apple announced that it would allow FLA probers into Foxconn facilities and their observations, which spanned from February through March, will be the bases of a report that group will publish on its official website.
Preliminary reports provided by FLA chief executive Auret van Heerden pointed to a number of violations by Foxconn management, most of which have been addressed by now and prior to the official release of its audit report.
Van Heerden had earlier cleared Apple of employing child labour, stressing such cases were seen during FLA's weeks of probe on Foxconn facilities.
Ahead of its report, the FLA chief said Hon Hai has committed to follow Apple's work week guidelines of no more than 60 hours per week, which van Heerden said will be ideally set at 49 hours each week when possible.
He noted though that Foxconn workers normally applies for additional working hours in order to increase their income, save more and send portions of their savings back home.
Majority of Foxconn workers, FLA said, were young Chinese migrant workers who prefer to work long hours to earn more.
"They're often single, they're young, and there's not much to do, so frankly they'd just rather work and save," van Heerden told The Associated Press (AP).
Part of the reforms both agreed upon by Apple and Hon Hai, FLA said, is the pay raise per hour purportedly to compensate for the reduced working hours but the Washington-based group did not specify if Apple will begin to disallow extended working hours even on peak season such as the launch of new iPads and iPhones.
Prior to FLA's recommendations, Foxconn workers have been given 25 percent pay hikes by Hon Hai, with salaries now ranging from $365 to $455, according to AP
Thousands of new workers will also be recruited, FLA said, in support of the new working conditions, with Reuters reporting that new dormitories will be built by Foxconn to house its close to 200,000 employees spread in Shenzhen and in the inland province of Sichuan.
These workers will also be enlisted in social welfare programs while Foxconn pledged that it would revise its accident reporting policy, which previously was only made when production was disrupted, van Heerden said.
The recommendations were in line with the reforms that Apple had sought to implement when it joined FLA this year and invited the group to conduct audits on a number of its assembly plants.
"Our team has been working for years to educate workers, improve conditions and make Apple's supply chain a model for the industry, which is why we asked the FLA to conduct these audits," AP reported Apple as saying in an earlier statement.