A series of reports has highlighted unfair and unsafe working conditions at Foxconn, which manufactures electronics for companies like Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft. Several companies have responded to the allegations, which include long hours of forced overtime, injuries caused by negligence, and a lack of accountability for violating policies set by Apple and others.
Foxconn workers put Chinese labor conditions under the spotlight
Foxconn says Apple will help bear cost of better working conditions
When Foxconn's first-quarter earnings results came out, analysts suggested that the cost of upgrading factories and offering wage increases had driven down the massive manufacturers' profits. But the company may also be getting some help from Apple. Foxconn executive Terry Gou recently told reporters in Shanghai that improving factory conditions "is not a cost. It is a competitive strength... I believe Apple sees this as a competitive strength along with us, and so we will split the initial...
How an iPad is made: Daisey critic Rob Schmitz gets exclusive look inside Shenzhen factory (video)
Marketplace correspondent Rob Schmitz, who gained attention for challenging Mike Daisey's accounts of working conditions in China, has been granted exclusive access by Apple and Foxconn to record the companies' iPad production line. The video (below) is a follow-up to last week's report of life inside Foxconn's Longhua facility in Shenzhen, which while critical of the company, is far less damning than Daisey's fictional account.
The video captures a first look at nearly-completed iPads...
Foxconn workers unhappy with shorter working weeks
Foxconn might have been forced to make some changes as its labor conditions were put under the spotlight by the media, but one group seems less than happy with the limitations put upon working hours: the workers themselves. In interviews with Reuters, employees have expressed concern that the new 36-hour per month overtime limit will negatively affect their pay packet. One worker, 25-year-old Chen Yamei, said that "we are here to work and not to play, so our income is very important," and...
Apple, Foxconn agree to hire 'tens of thousands' new workers and 'clamp down' on overtime
Right on cue alongside the Fair Labor Association's report on Foxconn worker conditions, Apple has announced that both it and the manufacturer will work together to hire "tens of thousands" of new workers in an effort to improve working conditions and "clamp down" on overtime. Foxconn said it is reducing working hours to 49 hours per week, including overtime, and developing a compensation package that keeps workers at their current level. Additional housing and canteens will be built to...
Fair Labor Association releases Apple labor investigation report, details serious worker issues at Foxconn factories
The Fair Labor association has just released its anticipated report on its investigation of Apple's labor conditions at the Foxconn factories in China. The FLA is an independent organization that Apple voluntarily asked to audit its factories after its working conditions came under question and harsh criticism in January, most notably by the now infamous and falsified Mike Daisey episode of This American Life.
The FLA reports that it interviewed 35,000 workers at Foxconn factories in Guanlan,...
Apple: suppliers actually averaged shorter work weeks during peak iPad production
Hot on the heels of This American Life's Mike Daisey takedown, Apple has revised its Supplier Responsibility homepage to reflect its latest monthly update (as promised) about working conditions at its suppliers' factories. The company says that over 500,000 workers actually worked less during a peak iPad production month thanks to rules laid out in its Supplier Code of Conduct. Instead of 60-hour work weeks like they'd been accustomed to (the maximum inside Apple's Code), workers actually...
Excerpts from 'This American Life' on Mike Daisey: 'Why not just tell us what really happened?'
We've received an early transcript of the episode of This American Life which will air this evening at 8:00PM ET entitled "Retraction." The episode features Mike Daisey, whose previous appearance on TAL was a dramatic monologue he has been performing since 2010 about workers at the Chinese factory which produces, among many other things, Apple products. Mike has gained a lot of attention for his work which has in turn brought much attention to the plight of the Chinese workers who toil to...
'This American Life' retracts episode about Foxconn's iPad factories, says it was 'partially fabricated'
This American Life has retracted an episode that focused on working conditions inside a Foxconn iPad factory, calling the source material "partially fabricated." The episode — the most popular in TAL history with nearly a million streams — was partially based on the work of artist Mike Daisey, who apparently lied to fact-checkers about his experiences visiting Foxconn's facility. Some of the lies were discovered during an interview with Daisey's Chinese translator, who disputed the facts...
Apple, FLA, and Foxconn respond to ABC 'Nightline' report with minor clarifications
Although there may not have been any shocking new revelations from last night's Nightline report on Foxconn's factories, Apple and others have issued some small corrections and statements. The most notable statement comes from Auret van Heerden, CEO of the Fair Labor Association, which Apple recently joined. Van Heerden has not been shy about commenting on the ongoing work the FLA is doing to inspect factory conditions, and he was forthcoming again about the so-called "five-year conversation"...
What we learned from the 'Nightline' report on Foxconn factories
After teasing the story yesterday, Nightline has aired its report from Foxconn's factories on ABC. In the report, host Bill Weir speaks directly to factory workers as well as their managers. You would think that this "unprecedented" look inside Apple factories would reveal much we didn't know, but the show was relatively light on information. Weir did extensively survey the places where iPads and iPhones are constructed, spent time interviewing both employees and their families, and talked to...
Apple to allow third-party environmental inspections, could begin as early as March
Apple will allow independent environmental audits of at least two of its suppliers’ manufacturing plants, and they could begin as early as March, reports activist Ma Jun to USA Today. Ma is the founder of the Chinese Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), one of several environmental organizations that has been critical of the companies' environmental practices. While Apple has performed its own audits of its production facilities since 2007, the new inspections by the Fair...
ABC visits Foxconn factories for a first-hand look at working conditions
On Tuesday night, ABC will broadcast a special Nightline episode filmed at Foxconn's facilities in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China, exploring the working conditions at the company's factories. That's been a hot topic of discussion for a while now, and thanks to assistance from Apple and Foxconn, ABC has secured rare access to the production lines on which iPads and iPhones are made. As a prelude to the full episode on Tuesday, today some of the findings have been disclosed in a piece on the ABC...
Apple-requested Foxconn factory inspection revealing 'tons of issues,' FLA boss says
Auret van Heerden, CEO of the Fair Labor Association, has issued some damning language today directed at Foxconn near the conclusion of an audit of factory conditions that had been requested by Apple several days ago. Without going into detail, van Heerden has told Bloomberg that his team was finding "tons of issues" and that he believes they're "going to see some very significant announcements in the near future." That could mean anything, of course — but when an organization devoted to...
Apple factory inspectors put positive spin on Foxconn conditions, but watchdogs are skeptical
Auret van Heerden, the president of the Fair Labor Association (or FLA) has issued a statement today ahead of the organization's expected final report on the working conditions at Apple's top eight suppliers, most notably Foxconn. van Heerden's remarks pertain to Foxconn following a visit of several days' to the factory. Preliminarily, van Heerden says, the factories are "first-class."
In January, Apple voluntarily joined the FLA, an independent, non-profit organization which conducts random...
Tim Cook promises monthly reports on Apple supplier working conditions
Apple CEO Tim Cook is currently speaking at Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, and no time was wasted asking about the working conditions of the company's suppliers — which has been an especially hot topic as of late. Cook stressed monthly reports that will be available on its website and then discussed specific concerns —underage employment and other "problems endemic to our industry" like excessive overtime. He said that Apple has began to manage working hours at a "very...
Foxconn factories under inspection by the Fair Labor Association, at Apple's request
At Apple's request, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) will begin conducting audits of the company's assembly suppliers, including Foxconn factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China. The first inspections began this Monday morning, led by FLA president Auret van Heerden, at the facility known as Foxconn City in Shenzhen. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement that "we believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair work environment, which is why we've asked the FLA to...
Foxconn attacked by hacker group, internal information released
Foxconn, which has come under fire due to allegations of poor working conditions in its factories, may now be the victim of a hacking attack. 9to5Mac is reporting that a group calling itself SwaggSec was behind the alleged compromise, and was able to gain access to Foxconn's internal networks thanks to an exploit in an unpatched copy of Internet Explorer that was being used by a Foxconn employee. The group made a 6.04MB file available earlier this evening — first on Demonoid, and then on T...
Apple Store protests on Thursday will push for ethical worker treatment
Two major business reform groups have planned protests of Apple Stores in six cities, urging the company to ensure the safety of workers who manufacture its devices. On Thursday morning, representatives of Change.org and SumOfUs will deliver petitions signed by hundreds of thousands of people, many of them Apple fans and iPhone owners, and carry signs and leaflets protesting the company. The petitions call for Apple to work harder to ensure fair treatment of employees at Foxconn plants in...
A Foxconn worker speaks out about factory conditions
Since the beginning of this year, a number of media outlets have reported on working conditions at Foxconn, the company that makes electronics for high-profile companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple. Although the reports have been disputed by companies, they paint a picture of long hours, poor safety, and unfair treatment for many of the company's 1.2 million employees. Now, a CNN reporter has interviewed an 18-year-old student who works 60-hour weeks manufacturing iPads in a Chengdu...
BSR corrects NYT piece on Apple labor practices in open letter
It's no secret that Tim Cook isn't happy about the recent New York Times piece on Apple's labor practices, but Apple isn't alone in disputing the claims and conclusions of the report. Aron Cramer, the CEO of BSR, a company which consults Apple and hundreds of other major companies on corporate responsibility, has come to bat for Apple in an open letter to the New York Times:
My BSR colleagues and I view Apple as a company that is making a highly
serious effort to ensure that labor conditions...
Apple's Tim Cook expresses 'outrage' over NYT report on worker safety
Yesterday, The New York Times published a comprehensive report including quotes from former and current Apple executives, alleging that Apple pushes its Chinese suppliers to cut corners at the expense of worker safety. Apple has a strong formal stance on supplier responsibility, and the NYT report doesn't dispute that, but suggested that despite Apple's regular audits, the company doesn't protect the labor force when it would interfere with profit.
Now, an internal email from Apple CEO Tim...
What Chinese readers think of Apple and Foxconn
The New York Times has posted a couple of articles recently that have gained a lot of traction: Sunday's exploration of why American companies such as Apple choose to outsource to China, and yesterday's more in-depth investigation into labor practices at Foxconn's Chinese factories that manufacture products such as the iPad. The latter article was also published in Chinese in the business daily Caixin, and the Times has provided a translated selection of readers' comments from the article and...
Apple's labor practices come under fire from former executives
In a comprehensive piece of reporting, The New York Times has laid out a strong case that Apple has not pursued safe and fair working conditions at its supplier factories in China as strenuously as it could have. Citing both current and former Apple executives, the NYT details dangerous labor conditions at Apple suppliers and lax oversight from Apple itself. The core of the problem stems from a fundamental conflict between Apple's demand for low margins and fast turnaround with suppliers'...
Why China builds our gadgets, as seen through the iPhone
The New York Times has a long and detailed piece on Chinese manufacturing, as seen through the lens of Apple's decision to manufacture the iPhone there. The key issue may surprise many, as the NYT says that it's not simply the low cost of labor that drives companies' decisions. Instead, it's a combination of extreme speed and flexibility in ramping up new production lines, economies of scale, availability of mid-level engineers, and centralization of different plants that makes it radically...
Foxconn suicide threat resolved, 45 workers resign
A mass suicide threat was successfully averted at Foxconn's Wuhan production plant, reports The New York Times. About 150 of the 32,000 employees staged an eight-hour standoff with the company's management on Thursday by threatening to jump off a roof, and while details of the agreement haven't been made public, all but 45 of the plant's employees have returned to work.
Foxconn gained notoriety in 2010 after several employees committed suicide to draw attention to poor working conditions. The...
This American Life goes inside an Apple factory
Monologuist Mike Daisey has won wide acclaim for his show "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," now playing in New York City. In it, Daisey narrates his complex relationship with Apple products: once a self-described "worshipper in the cult of Mac," he wondered about the origins of those sleek objects of desire. He followed the story to China and was appalled by what found; that trip formed the basis of his monologue. This American Life picked up the story there, and the episode's second...
