Fair Labor Association to Inspect iPhone and iPad Factories
It seems the Apple is taking the allegations of unfair working conditions in their factories very seriously. With the help of the Fair Labor Association (FLA), Apple will be conducting special voluntary audits of Foxconn’s Chinese assembly factories beginning today.
The inspections will begin at Foxconn’s mega-facility in Shenzhen, conducted by a senior team that includes Fair Labor Association president Auret van Heerden.
When asked for a comment regarding the situation and subsequent inspections, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook noted:
We believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair work environment, which is why we’ve asked the FLA to independently assess the performance of our largest suppliers [...] inspections now underway are unprecedented in the electronics industry, both in scale and scope, and we appreciate the FLA agreeing to take the unusual step of identifying the factories in their reports.
If the allegations of unfair and unsafe working conditions are accurate then they will be uncovered by these thorough inspections that include interviews (asking thousands of employees about health, safety, compensation,working hours, and communication with management) and physical review of manufacturing areas, dormitories, and other facilities as well as any relevant procedural documents.
Apple’s participation in the Fair Labor Association is unprecedented for a technology company and will hopefully represent a commitment to addressing these problems as they are reported and reviewed. While the news reports were quick to suggest that Apple has known about these problems for quite some time and did nothing to fix them, that hasn’t been proven and Apple is doing something now and that has to count for something (at least).
Foxconn is not the only supplier to be going under the microscope, Quanta and Pegatron are expected to undergo similar reviews later this spring. Before the report is complete the Fair Labor Association is expected to have reviewed over 90% of the factories where Apple’s products are assembled.
Simultaneous to this process, Apple is also continuing their ongoing internal audits for summary in their annual supplier responsibility report.