workingconditions
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Apple publishes Supplier Responsibility Progress Report
Apple published its report on how it is monitoring contractors to meet standards of worker protection and responsibility. Apple reports that it originated 229 audits throughout its supply chain in 2011, up 80% over 2010, with special emphasis on worker safety and working conditions. The company notes it has required Apple-designed training programs for more than 1 million supply chain employees. Apple has been criticized in the past for not revealing all the supplier relationships it maintains, and the report now shows a list of 156 companies which represent 97% of Apple's procurement expenditures. Apple also claims to have made a concerted effort to stop the hiring of underage employees. The audits are said to have resulted in dramatic reductions in underage labor, and the most recent reports says no underage workers were found at final assembly suppliers. Apple and other consumer electronic product makers have been fiercely criticized about working conditions in the contract plants that assemble electronics products. Monologuist Mike Daisey, who chronicled his observations of labor practices among Apple's supplier firms in his one-man show The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, is featured on this past week's episode of PRI's This American Life, along with the show's production team's investigation into his findings. If you're interested you can read Apple's full supplier-responsibility report in PDF form.
Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou says Apple products are "very difficult to make"
Hon Hai, parent company of Foxconn, is blaming Apple for its poor financial performance over the past two quarters. Chairman Terry Gou confirmed the Chinese company invested heavily in its manufacturing plants to keep up with Apple's demand. He said Apple devices were "very difficult" to make. The company's profit gains were also hit hard by Foxconn wage increases, which were introduced following a rash of employee suicides and negative reports over the past few years. Gou hopes to turn things around in the last half of the year when its investment in manufacturing and lucrative Apple contracts should begin to pay off.
Foxconn worker from Chengdu factory commits suicide
Sadly, a 20-year-old male employee at Foxconn (Apple's contract manufacturer for many products) committed suicide Thursday morning, according to a report from the Hong Kong China News Agency (HKCNA) cited by Bloomberg. The worker was reportedly employed at the company's new facility in Chengdu where an explosion killed three workers on May 20. Further details about Thursday morning's incident are sparse, and the reasons behind the factory worker's suicide are currently unknown. This is at least the 14th publicized death by suicide among Foxconn's workforce since the start of 2010. Foxconn chairman Terry Gou declined to comment about the incident saying he doesn't know the full details about the apparent suicide. However, last year, Gou said suicides by Foxconn employees were prompted by personal issues rather than tough working conditions in his company's facilities. Labor groups like China Labor Watch disagree. Foxconn's critics have slammed the Taipei-based company for operating facilities with a sweatshop atmosphere -- an accusation Gou vehemently denies. In response to last year's suicides and subsequent harsh criticism, Foxconn, which builds electronic products for several other recognizable brands including Sony and Dell, raised wages, slashed overtime, offered counseling, and tried to improve the work-life balance for its more than one million factory workers in China. Although Foxconn's suicide rate remains markedly lower than China's national average, Thursday morning's death, last Friday's explosion, and protests outside a Foxconn shareholder meeting earlier this month suggest the manufacturer has more work to do to improve employee safety and overall satisfaction. Our thoughts and condolences go out to the friends and family of the young man who died.
Foxconn employees asked to sign 'no suicide' pledge
English tabloid newspaper the Daily Mail is reporting that employees working for Foxconn, assembler of many Apple products, are being forced to sign pledges not to commit suicide. The report from the tabloid paper points to an investigation conducted by the Centre for Research on Multinational Companies and Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (Sacom). Sacom claims it uncovered "appalling" working conditions at the Foxconn factory that include excessive overtime and public humiliation. While the Daily Mail cites the Sacom study as evidence of abysmal working conditions at Foxconn, the Sacom report investigates factory conditions across China -- not just Foxconn -- and, in fact, congratulates Foxconn as being the only employer to pledge to meet government limits on overtime. The anti-suicide letters seem to have been first published on the Shangaiist website, where there's some discussion on the exact translation of the supposed leaked Foxconn employee letter. The contentious, final paragraph states: "In the event of non-accidental injuries (including suicide, self mutilation, etc.), I agree that the company has acted properly in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, and will not sue the company, bring excessive demands, take drastic actions that would damage the company's reputation or cause trouble that would hurt normal operations." But what Shangaiist author Elaine Chow translates as "will not sue the company," others translate as "will not make demands outside of law and regulation." In fact, this anti-suicide pact that new workers are asked to sign seems to point them towards sources of help should they have problems, including a trade union hotline -- not quite the dismal picture painted by the Daily Mail. [Via Slashdot]
Wintek workers still experience effects from n-hexane exposure, Apple issues a report
It's been a few months since we checked in on the workers at Wintek, where they manufacture touchscreens for the likes of Apple. As you might remember, the former company was facing a lawsuit for chemical poisoning that occurred between May 2008 to August 2009 when the company substituted alcohol for n-hexane in the manufacturing process. Both Apple and Wintek maintain that ultimately a total of 137 people had been hospitalized, and all have recovered -- but as Reuters points out, daily exposure to the chemical has been known to cause "long-term and possibly irreversible nerve damage," and Wintek employees have maintained that the company has left them holding the bag for symptoms that could very well flare up again in the future (or, in some cases, never really went away). "We are unable to cope with the medical costs of treatment in the future," said Guo Ruiqiang, a worker at the plant. "We can only stay in the factory and see what happens. We just feel very helpless now." For Apple's part, the company has mandated that Wintek "work with a consultant to improve their Environmental Health and Safety processes and management systems" in anticipation of a complete reaudit of the facility in 2011. [Warning: PDF More Coverage link]
Apple responds to critics of Chinese working conditions
Apple has reiterated company policy regarding the use of Chinese component suppliers and said it is "committed to ensuring the highest standards of social responsibility throughout our supply base," according to Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu quoted in Macworld today. The company says it requires all suppliers to agree to Apple's code of conduct before any contracts are signed. Apple didn't comment directly on the report released yesterday by The Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) critical of Apple's oversight of suppliers. In what it calls a Supplier Report (PDF), Apple has detailed the steps it takes to maintain compliance with policies that suppliers must meet. Apple admits that its own audits showed frequent violations by overseas companies, but the audits also detail the steps Apple took to keep these violations in check. The 36 environmental groups that issued the critical report yesterday claim there is too large a gap from Apple written policies and the reality in the plants. You can download a PDF of the critical report, but note that it is in Chinese. The IPE also produced a video, also in Chinese, about the issue.
Chinese government to make Foxconn suicide findings public
We've been struggling to wrap our heads 'round this whole Foxconn imbroglio since the beginning, and while we're pretty skeptical about any official reports we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that the Human Resources and Social Security Ministry in China was looking into the thing, and that they'll be releasing the findings somewhat soonish. According to Vice Minister Zhang Xiaojian, recent strikes at various factories including Brother and Honda (strikes seemingly sparked by the Foxconn incidents) do not constitute "a 'wave' of unrest." Well, that's good -- for business owners, at least. And while the families of the Foxconn suicides maintain that long hours, low pay, and harsh management are to be blamed, Zhang added that "the psychological problems of the workers" can be added to the list. Psychological problems caused by low pay, long hours, and harsh management, perhaps? [Thanks, Xinh]
Foxconn axes suicide compensation, relocating some production to Vietnam or Taiwan
At yesterday's annual shareholder meeting, Foxconn revealed that it'll no longer be compensating families of dead employees as a move to discourage further suicides. CEO Terry Gou reasoned by exhibiting evidence that showed the money -- an amount almost equivalent to ten years' worth of salary -- was a major motivation for the suicides. One such exhibit was a man's suicide letter that contained the following message for his parents: "...now I'm going to jump off Foxconn, really leaving now, but you don't have to be sad, because Foxconn will pay a bit of money, this is all your son can repay you now." Gou also blamed a possible "Werther Effect" created by the news coverage, which might have led to six of the twelve suicides all taking place in May. Consequently, the company will be handing over its welfare management work to the local Chinese government, as it's unable to deal with too many social responsibilities. In the same meeting, the company made an unsurprising announcement that it's looking to relocate some manufacturing work, amid a worsened earnings forecast due to increased wages -- basic salary has gone up from ¥900 ($132) to ¥1,200 ($176), rising to as much as ¥2,000 ($293) for those who meet new performance criteria. This will involve setting up a fully automated facility in either Taiwan or Vietnam, while the existing Vietnamese plant will be receiving more orders. Chairman Samuel Chen also said that Foxconn will be working with its clients to share the load -- no further details on this, but we suspect Apple's rumored direct subsidies are part of the plan.
Rising labor costs in China may lead to pricier electronics, manufacturing relocation
You might recall that Foxconn, faced with the searing spotlight of the world's attention on its working conditions, recently announced not one but two wage increases for its employees, which is now looking like part of a larger trend in China toward higher pay. The city of Beijing has said it'll be raising its minimum wage by 20 percent, to 960 Yuan ($140) a month, and is expected to be followed by others. The New York Times pins this on numerous factors, including growing competition for workers, state authorities insisting on higher standards, and a national policy effort to ease the gap between rich and poor. All good news, you might think, but these worker-friendly measures are taking their toll on manufacturing costs, and now there's talk of companies relocating production to cheaper locales. Vietnam, India and Indonesia are the prime suspects for taking production duties away from China, with some companies also apparently contemplating shifting to poorer regions within the nation. These changes are unlikely to perturb high-end electronics manufacturing in the short term, due to its more sophisticated infrastructure and supply chain, but the end consumer might still feel their effect in the form of higher prices. Inflation within China and a projected increase in its currency value are likely to drive up the cost of exports, so we'd advise buying what you need sooner rather than later. [Thanks, Daniel]
44 Chinese workers sue Wintek over screen cleaner poisoning
If you've got an early Apple iPad, chances are its screen was cleaned with a banned substance called n-hexane, which releases a toxic nerve gas upon use. 2,000 workers at Wintek's East China LCD plant went on strike in January, claiming the substance was poisoning them, and now 44 of those reportedly affected are planning to sue. According to reports, the screen cleaner was originally used because it performed better than alcohol, but Wintek has since fired the factory manager who suggested n-hexane and discontinued its use. That didn't keep 62 workers from winding up in the hospital, however. The Guardian interviewed two hospitalized workers last week, and you'll find their stories at our more coverage link below. We're sure you'll agree these Chinese labor violations are getting out of hand -- let's hope this lawsuit spurs government and industry to do something concrete about worker abuse.
National Labor Committee report on Chinese CE factories uncovers deplorable conditions
Yesterday, the National Labor Committee produced a report on the working conditions at the KYE Factory in Dongguan City, Guangdong, China. KYE operates (like many factories in China) a live-work facility and generated sales of $400 million in 2008. KYE manufactures outsourced products for HP, Best Buy, Samsung, Foxconn, Acer, Logitech, and ASUS. Their largest customer, however, is reportedly Microsoft. The report details some of what we've come to expect in stories of labor abuses -- near children, most of them women, working for 16 or 17 hours a day, living in nearly deplorable conditions, for less than a dollar an hour -- all so that the world's ever-growing need for / addiction to consumer electronics can be fed. Now, the gadget industry isn't the only offender by a stretch -- but it's quickly becoming one of the largest (in addition to producing a truly horrific amount of toxic garbage). After the break are some choice facts from the report that our readers might be interested in ingesting, so read on.
Apple supplier audit reveals sub-minimum wage pay and records of underage labor
Apple's famous desire for total control over its operations seems to have extended to its manufacturing facilities as we've come across Cupertino's Supplier Responsibility 2010 Progress Report, which details audits the American company has done of its overseas suppliers and the failures identified therein. The findings are pretty damning on the whole, with more than half (54 percent) of all factories failing to meet Apple's already inflated maximum 60-hour work week, 24 percent paying less than the minimum wage, 37 percent failing to respect anti-discrimination rules, and three facilities holding records of employing a total of eleven 15-year olds (who were over the legal age of 16 or had left by the time of the audit). Apple is, predictably, not jazzed about the situation, and has taken action through train-the-trainer schemes, threats of business termination with recidivist plants, and -- most notably -- the recovery of $2.2 million in recruitment fees that international contract workers should not have had to pay. It should come as no shock to learn that cheaper overseas factories are cutting illegal corners, but it's disappointing to hear Apple's note that most of the 102 audited manufacturers said Cupertino was the only vendor to perform such rigorous compliance checks. Still, we'll take what we can get and the very existence of this report -- which can be savagely skewed to defame Apple's efforts (as demonstrated expertly by The Daily Telegraph below) -- is an encouraging sign that corporate responsibility is being taken seriously. We hope, wherever your geek loyalties and fervor may lie, that you'll agree Apple's leading in the right direction and that its competitors should at the very least have matching monitoring schemes. They may have to swallow some bad PR at first, but sweeping up the dirty details of where gadgets come from is juvenile and has no place in a civilized world. Hit the source link for the full report.
Study finds horrible working conditions at Microsoft, Dell ODM factory
Despite the fact that the world economy is suffering from cutbacks in nearly every job sector, factory workers in places such as the Meitai factory in Dongguan City, Guangdong, China -- which assembles and produces keyboards for companies including Lenovo, Microsoft, Dell, HP and IBM -- have been relatively insulated from the downturn, and their jobs secure. The National Labor Committee has conducted a covert operation to investigate the working conditions at the factory, however, and found them to be less than acceptable. The workers -- who arguably are not compensated very well to begin with -- are cheated out of wages for negligible wrongdoing, forced into overtime, fed food that even a Dickens character would refuse, work twelve hours a day seven days a week, and sleep in dorms which are "primitive" (yes, workers live at the factory). The report that the NLC has compiled is quite long, detailed, depressing, and begins, ironically, with a Bill Gates quote. Hit the read link for the full story.Update: It looks like the source material at the read links is only working intermittently. [Via Boing Boing]
EA an awful place to work. Awful great!
var digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2007/05/16/ea-an-awful-place-to-work-awful-great/'; Remember when the online buzz about Electronic Arts was all about overworked staff and unpaid overtime? That's so two years ago. The new buzz, apparently, is that EA is the second best place for new graduates to work, according to a Fortune Magazine list.They make a decent enough case -- EA employees get five to ten free games per year, heavy discounts on games and systems, plus amenities like an on-site gym, a DVD library and stock options. Still, given the past complaints, we can't help but gape at Fortune's statement that EA employees "might not have time to spend any of the $60,000 starting salary that's offered to the average entry-level worker." They had to understand the irony dripping from that line when they wrote it. Didn't they?[Thanks Keavin]
Trade unions take issue with "iPod City" report
So even though Apple's investigation of the Chinese manufacturing plant that's come to be known as "iPod City" found no egregious violations in the working conditions (except for, you know, the long hours, military-like punishments, and not exactly "Cribs"-style living arrangements), at least one major trade union conglomerate isn't all that happy with its conclusions. Speaking to BBC News, the director of human and trade union rights at the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, Janek Kuczkiewicz, noted that his organization was "not impressed either by the report or by the findings of Apple." Most troubling to the ICFTU was the fact that only 100 of the over 30,000 employees working at the Foxconn-owned plant were interviewed by Apple's special investigative team; and since the conditions under which the interviews were held is unknown (i.e. were they being watched by supervisors and told to just smile and nod?), Kuczkiewicz stressed that "we have serious reservations about the report." He went on to point out that there are other labor standards such as the freedoms from discrimination, of association, and to bargain collectively that were not necessarily enjoyed by the Foxconn employees. While it's certainly admirable that not everyone is simply lauding Apple for its inquiry and assuming massive changes are underway, it's also important to realize that when doing business in a foreign country, outside corporations don't always have the final say on how things are run; so as much as Mr. Kuczkiewicz would like to see the workers band together and demand $5.15 an hour, we're not sure how well that would go over with the Chinese government. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that manufacturers are driving each other to find cheaper and cheaper labor in order to maintain already thin margins, and when that's the case, even a company as rich and powerful as Apple can do little to create the utopic working conditions that we'd all like to see.[Via The Inquirer and PC Pro]
Apple promises to investigate "iPod City"
Even though the veracity of that Daily Mail story about supposed substandard working conditions in several Chinese iPod factories is still up in the air, the Apple PR machine has already begun rolling out something of a damage control campaign, issuing a statement that reemphasizes the company's commitment to internationally-recognized manufacturing codes of conduct. Citing protocols outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and by the International Labor Organization, Apple stressed its own supplier code of conduct's commitment to safe workplaces, environmentally-friendly manufacturing processes, and most importantly to the issue at hand, ensuring that workers are treated with respect and dignity. Instead of flat out denying the Mail's claims, however, Apple seems to be adopting a more contrite approach, claiming that it is "currently investigating the allegations regarding working conditions" in the Hon Hai-owned plant. We're happy to see that Apple has taken notice of this story and is concerned with the folks who are vital in bringing their products to market, but the real test is whether we'll ever actually hear anything else about these factories once the company has completed the promised investigation. [Via iLounge]
