Report: Foxconn Workers Are Still Working Too Much

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A new report from the Fair Labor Association says that Apple supplier Foxconn has made tremendous progress toward improving working conditions at its facilities. However, the firm still needs to reduce the amount of overtime for its workers.

Vindu Goel with The New York Times reported, “Foxconn Technology, the company that manufactures Apple’s popular iPads and iPhones, has made substantial progress toward improving safety and other working conditions at three of its Chinese plants dedicated to making Apple products. But it has not yet achieved the most difficult goal: reducing the average workweek to the maximum allowed by Chinese law, a global monitoring group said on Thursday.”

Bloomberg News noted, “The assembler of iPhones and iPads has resolved 98 percent of the 360 issues raised by the Washington-based Fair Labor Association, the group said in a report yesterday. The company has improved safety conditions, including testing sprinklers and maintaining equipment.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Jessica Lessin added, “But Chinese law… legally limits workers to 40 hours of work per week and 36 hours maximum overtime per month. Apple and Foxconn agreed to comply with those rules by July 2013. The new report says that assessors found during the January review that workers at two facilities reviewed worked between 40 and 60 hours every week. At the third facility, workers also worked between 40 and 60 hours, except for two weeks in September and one in October, where working hours were between 40 and 70 hours per week during the launch of the latest iPhone.”

According to Reuters, “Foxconn Technology Group said on Friday it needs more time to reduce overtime at its China factories after labor monitors appointed by top client Apple Inc said cutting workers’ hours by a July 1 target would be a challenge.”