Apple Supplier Foxconn Better, Still Not Okay

In a report from the Fair Labor Association (FLA) published yesterday, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., better known as Foxconn, is ahead of schedule on correcting a total of 360 remedial actions due to be completed by July 1, 2013. The Chinese maker of iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks has completed all 195 corrective actions that were due by May 31st and has completed an additional 89 tasks due by next year’s deadline.

The FLA’s original investigation found the most significant problem at Foxconn to be the number of hours employees were required to work. Foxconn is working to fix these issues by next year’s deadline:

The company has reduced hours to 60 per week (including overtime) with the goal of reaching full compliance with the Chinese legal limit of 40 hours per week plus an average of 9 hours of overtime per week while protecting worker pay.

The FLA also noted Foxconn’s efforts to improve workers’ physical safety and to provide health and safety training. Apple initiated a review of its suppliers’ practices last year and reported the results in January.

This story, from a US-based Chinese-language newspapers, tells of another death near Foxconn’s factory in Chengdu in late July of this year. Foxconn may be changing, but is it truly improving?

The FLA report is available here.

Paul Ausick