Apple-Approved Fair Labor Inspections Begin At Foxconn

redletterdave writes "Apple announced on Monday that the Fair Labor Association has begun inspecting Foxconn's Chinese factories, upon Apple's request. Apple said that Auret van Heerden, the president of the FLA, is leading a group of labor rights experts in the first round of inspections at the sprawling plant in Shenzhen, China, more informally known as 'Foxconn City.' The FLA's independent assessment — completely supplementary to Apple's own auditing practices — will involve interviewing thousands of Foxconn employees about the working and living conditions, including working hours, compensation, managerial issues, and health and safety conditions. Foxconn has 'pledged full cooperation with the FLA,' and will reportedly allow unrestricted access to all of their operations. The investigative team will report their findings in early March on the FLA's website. Apple's other suppliers, including Quanta and Pegatron, will be inspected later this spring. By the time summer rolls around, the FLA hopes to have covered 90 percent of facilities where Apple products are built and assembled."

Comments

Re:Thoughts from someone who lives in China

[Kenja]

So things are so good that they had to put up nets to stop people jumping off the buildings for joy?

You can argue social differences all you want, but as soon as people would rather kill themselves there is an issue that you shouldn't ignore.

Re:corporate responsibility

[DigiShaman]

Sucks for sure. But many prefer this line of work to that of working out in the fields. It simply pays a hell of a lot more, that's all. Some even carry over their education and experience to higher paying positions. Slowly but surely, they're climbing the ladder of progress. The population is huge though. Assuming governmental reforms will allow for more employment mobility within the country, it will take quite some time before the cheap labor pool has become sequestered. Some say it's already happened and that the next pool of cheap labor will be tapped in India and Africa.

Capitalism lifts people out of poverty, but not before people are exploited first. That's the trade-off. If you're striving for fairness like we all are, dealing with rampant exploitation needs to take place on two fronts. First, Western nations need to hold the parent companies residing there to be held accountable for what's basically human slave labor. Second, nations that allow this to happen within their own border also need to be involved in ensuring OSHA like standards are in place.

Re: Collateral damage

[pegasustonans]

While Apple bashing is always fun, let us remember that Apple is not the only FoxConn client. So while you may revel in this negative publicity of APPLE, would you be as thrilled to hear that your Xbox 360, your PS3, your Wii, and your Kindle are also built at those same FoxConn factories?

Who gives a fuck?

The point is that the working conditions are shit, and they deserve better as human beings.

I don't revel in positive or negative publicity for Apple

I'm pissed off at this blatant exploitation of the lower class in China so clueless soccer families can have more shiny toys.

As for Apple, I don't think about them much at all. They're part of the problem, other than that, I could care less.