Apple labor fixes in China said ahead of schedule

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

WASHINGTON (AP) - The labor group hired by Apple Inc. to assess working conditions at three manufacturing plants in China said Tuesday that the improvements it recommended in March are being implemented ahead of schedule.

The Fair Labor Association said in a progress report that Apple Inc.'s largest supplier, Foxconn, had made all 195 improvements to working conditions that were due by the end of May. Foxconn also completed 89 of the 165 improvements due by next July.

The review of working conditions follows a rash of suicides at Foxconn facilities - about a dozen since 2010 - and an explosion at the iPad-making plant in Chengdu in May 2011 that killed four workers. The explosion was caused by the build-up of aluminum dust, and the FLA said in March that Foxconn had already improved operating procedures to reduce the risk of a recurrence.

Among the changes enacted since then, the FLA said that Foxconn had reduced work hours to 60 hours per week.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120821/DA0Q1VAG0.html

[Dkc05]

1. Slave labor and we support Apple by buying their goods made with blood

We shouldn't buy their crap unless they allow decent working conditions and unions in their slave shop plants. Its time to stop buying apple products. Sorry for my rant but we need to support our fellow brothers and sisters in labor.

[Elwood P Dowd]

8. And you're not using products made under similar conditions?

A handful of suppliers in Asia make all this stuff under similar conditions. Foxconn makes products and components for dozens of electronic giants besides Apple, yet not one word in the corporate media about these companies. Even a company run by a bunch of dirtbag republicans, Dell, is never mentioned here on DU.

[SHRED]

2. Solve the whole thing and...

...bring the manufacturing here.

[onehandle]

3. Thanks to Apple, not Google, Amazon, HP, Dell, Samsung, Sony, Microsoft, Asus or any of the..

...dozens of companies that use the same factories.

They did not join the effort in name or initiative.

'Labor groups have turned their attention to Apple supplier and rival Samsung, the Suwon, South Korea-based maker of Galaxy handsets and Smart TVs. China Labor Watch, a New York-based group headed by activist Li Qiang, earlier this month accused a Samsung assembler in China of hiring child workers and having working conditions “well below” those at Apple suppliers.'

[hughee99]

4. What hardware does Google manufacture?

I know their software runs on many of this equipment but what does Google manufacture in China?

[onehandle]

5. Nexus phones and tablets. Chromebooks. Various tech accessories. nt

[hughee99]

6. I thought that stuff was all Samsung.

I didn't know Google owned part of it. Thanks for the info.

[Dustlawyer]

7. Once they start having to pay for all of the basic worker protections that we have here,

The labor rates will start to equalize. They have driven the rates down here in the U.S., and as they get rid of a lot of the pesky regulations that protect our workers, it will speed up the equalization.