© Foxconn
The Fair Labor Association (FLA) has finally returned from Foxconn after investigating allegations of improper labor practices against the manufacturer. Hired on by Apple, the watchdog group drilled over 35,000 anonymous Foxconn employees over the course of 3,000 hours. What the FLA learned was both good and bad.
For starters, there was no sign of underage workers, or "child slaves," despite other reports and rumors. The wages were paid on time too, and surprisingly above the applicable legal rates in China. According to the report, the legal minimum wage in Shenzhen is RMB1500, while the starting wage at Foxconn is RMB1800. After the probation period, wages go up to about RMB2200. Still, 64.3-percent of workers thought that their salary was not sufficient to cover their basic needs.
Now for the negative. The FLA discovered that workers building Apple products were being overworked. More specifically, all three factories exceeded the FLA Code Standard and the requirements of the Chinese labor law at some point in the last 12 months. During peak production periods, the average number of hours worked per week exceeded the FLA Code Standard of 60 hours. Also, there were periods in which some workers did not get one day off in seven days. Thing is, 48-percent thought that their working hours were reasonable, and another 33.8-percent stated that they would like to work more hours and make more money.
Comment: Sounds like another case of blame the victim.