SACOM hits Apple, Foxconn on worker abuse in China

IDG News Service - A watchdog group has slammed Apple and its supplier Foxconn for failing to take corrective action on the plight of factory workers in China, saying the companies continue to abuse employees while providing poor working conditions.

The workers at Foxconn, which makes Apple products like the iPad and iPhone, worked up to 80 hours a week in April leading up to the release of the new iPad, said Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), a Hong Kong-based organization, in a study. The production work for Foxconn workers on Apple products is excessive, and Foxconn has not yet taken corrective action to bring work hours within the Chinese legal limits, SACOM said.

Foxconn also continues to underpay workers while violating their rights and exposing them to health and safety risks, SACOM said. The group interviewed 170 workers across multiple Foxconn facilities in the cities of Zhengzhou, where the iPhone is made, and Shenzhen, where products for Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Amazon, Dell and other companies are made.

The abuse of factory workers making Apple products came under the microscope earlier this year following a New York Times story that described poor working conditions at the factories of contractors making the products. The Fair Labor Association conducted a month-long investigation on Foxconn factories and issued a report on March 29 revealing underpay, worker abuse and health and safety risks for workers. Based on recommendations in the study, Foxconn and Apple pledged to take steps to address the issues.

SACOM criticized the FLA for failing to address issues like harsh management and forced internships, but commended the organization for recommendations to improve working conditions in Foxconn's factories. However, Foxconn workers have been kept in the dark about the possible remedial actions as workers don't have access to FLA's report, SACOM said. Of the approximately 170 Foxconn employees surveyed, only 10 percent heard of the FLA, and the lack of knowledge will make it difficult for FLA to verify whether Apple and Foxconn are taking corrective action.

With the latest iPad, SACOM said that Foxconn has set higher production targets on products from Apple, which forces workers to put in overtime without pay to meet those targets. SACOM cited the example of a female worker whose job was to examine iPad casings and put them in plastic bags, but got exhausted after Foxconn increased the production target of iPads to 135 per hour from 120 per hour. Some Foxconn workers end up working 80 hours during peak season also on non-Apple products, SACOM said.

The FLA's investigation earlier found that some workers were forced to work extra hours and were often underpaid. Foxconn committed to fairly compensate and bring working hours within the Chinese legal limits of 49 hours a week, including overtime, by July 2013.