Foxconn and Apple Make Strides Towards Improving Work Hours, But Still Violate Chinese Limits

The Fair Labor Association has published a final status report on the working conditions at Apple supplier Foxconn, finding that Foxconn successfully reduced working hours to comply with the Fair Labor Association's standard 60 hour work week, but failed to meet the Chinese legal limit of 49 hours per week and at times, exceeded the legal limit of 36 hours of overtime per month.

Today's report follows an initial audit that took place in February of 2012 and a later agreement in March where Foxconn agreed to examine worker pay and implement stricter control over working hours while also improving working conditions.

foxconn_workers_2
Over the course of 2013, the Fair Labor Association visited three Foxconn facilities in Longhua, Guanlan, and Chengdu, with Foxconn providing full cooperation and unrestricted access to both facilities and workers during the verification process. Along with improving working hours, Foxconn also made moves to install additional exits and bathroom facilities.

FLA assessors verified that workers at the Longhua and Chengdu facilities worked no more than 60 hours every week between March and October; the same was true in the Guanlan facility with the exception of seven weeks during this period when working hours exceeded 60 hours. The assessment found that between March and October 2013, on average more than half of the workforce had worked beyond the Chinese legal limit of 36 overtime hours per month in all three facilities.

FLA assessors found that no interns had been engaged at any of the three facilities since the January 2013 verification visits and that the internship programs had been concluded at all three facilities. Assessors also verified that construction of additional exits and toilets was underway at the three facilities, with completion slated for the end of the year.

The Fair Labor Association expects Foxconn to continue to monitor its employee working hours to ensure compliance with the 60 hour work week while also making progress towards reaching a 49 hour work week. While the FLA will no longer be monitoring Foxconn, Apple is required to continue monitoring labor compliance, reporting back to the FLA each year.

Apple tracks working hours for its supply chain employees and also maintains a Supplier Responsibility section on its website, publishing yearly reports. The company has pledged to prevent excessive work hours, unethical hiring policies, and the hiring of underage workers at the factories that supply Apple with parts.

Throughout the year, various Apple suppliers have been continually accused of poor working conditions. In July, Pegatron was accused of having poor living conditions, and unethically holding worker pay. Pegatron was further accused of labor violations earlier this week, following the death of a fifteen-year-old factory worker in October.

Along with working with the Fair Labor Association to ensure safe working practices at factories, Apple also formed an academic advisory board for its Supplier Responsibility program in July, tasked with studying Apple policies and conducting research on labor standards in Apple's supply chain.

Apple takes violations to its policies seriously, and in January, the company dropped Pingzhou Electronics as a supplier after it was found to be hiring multiple underage workers.

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
top stories 2025 03 29

Top Stories: WWDC 2025 Announced, iPhone 17 Pro and iOS 19 Rumors, and More

Saturday March 29, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent. A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
Magic Mouse Green

What to Expect From the Magic Mouse 3

Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect. The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design. It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information. Relocated Charging Port While the Magic Mouse switched from...
iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Expected Next Week - Here Are the Release Notes

Friday March 28, 2025 2:01 pm PDT by
With the second release candidate of iOS 18.4 that Apple seeded out today, the company finally provided us with release notes that give a full rundown on what to expect. There's an Apple Vision Pro app, new Apple Intelligence features for notifications and additional language support, plus an Apple News Food feature for Apple News+ subscribers, and several updates that should improve the...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Six Things to Know About Apple's Upcoming Foldable iPhone

Friday March 28, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We've been hearing rumors about a foldable iPhone for almost a decade now, but it looks like we might finally see the device come to fruition in 2026. We're going to be waiting many more months for the foldable iPhone, but so far we're hearing good things. Apple wants to make it creaseless. It's taken Apple multiple years to design a foldable iPhone that it's satisfied with because Apple ...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday March 31, 2025 11:27 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...

Top Rated Comments

Jbenn425 Avatar
148 months ago
Maybe if the country enforced its own labor laws...
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HiRez Avatar
148 months ago
49 hours per week? Wow, that seems kind of ridiculously low. I would have "violated" that hundreds of times in my own career.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TWSS37 Avatar
148 months ago
Unrelated*, iPhone 5s shipping almost immediately these days.

*related
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jbenn425 Avatar
148 months ago
How would you like it if some outside Fair Labor Association tried to put a limit on the number of hours you could work when you're trying to earn enough to support your whole family?

Maybe the Fair Labor Association should mandate a higher pay so you don't have to work 60 hours a week to make ends meat. Especially in a country with universal healthcare where the government pays for it if you have a health problem due to your absurd work hours.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JHankwitz Avatar
148 months ago
How would you like it if some outside Fair Labor Association tried to put a limit on the number of hours you could work when you're trying to earn enough to support your whole family?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mr Fusion Avatar
148 months ago
Just curious, does Foxconn only manufacture Apple products? Or, is the Fair Labor Association only tracking conditions at sites that produce Apple products?
No other companies give a ****. They're not under the microscope like Apple.

This is all very ridiculous. These people's lives are a joke to multinational corporations. Apple's only dealing with the FLA because they feel pressured into looking like they care. This isn't how people's lives improve, it's how companies please their shareholders. Consumers, time and time again, have proven they don't give a rats *** about any of this.

So drop it. And where's my ******* Goldpagne iPhone? Pedal faster minions!!! :cool:
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)