by Erin Wigger and Peter Schnall
Students and Scholars Against Corporate
Misbehavior (SACOM), China Labor Watch (CLW) and the Fair Labor
Association (FLA) disagree on what Foxconn has accomplished over the past
several months in response to the FLA’s audit of working conditions at Foxconn
in March 29th, 2012 and its subsequent report on changes at the plant published
on August 21st.
It appears as though there were some
changes at Foxconn – the most important being a reduction in hours worked
(although not all workers were happy with the changes in work hours as it
resulted in a reduction in wages), the elimination of dispatch work, and an
increase in wages. However, as SACOM points out below, many promised changes
have not yet occurred.
For your convenience we’ve taken the
liberty of extracting excerpts from each of these reports (see below). Links
can be found to the full reports at the bottom.
From the FLA:
Remediation Highlights:
“Many
physical changes to improve worker health and safety have been made since the
investigation, including the enforcement of ergonomic breaks, changing the
design of workers’ equipment to guard against repetitive stress injuries,
updating of maintenance policies to ensure equipment is working properly, and
testing of emergency protective equipment like eyewashes and sprinklers.
Foxconn has also engaged consultants to provide health and safety training for
all employees."
"The
most significant commitments made by Foxconn following FLA’s original
investigation were related to union elections and worker representation, and
compliance with Chinese labor law regarding hours of work. Deadlines
for remediation of these items continue through July 2013; however,
Foxconn has taken initial steps toward fulfilling these commitments."
"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."
"Foxconn also helped to extend
unemployment insurance coverage for migrant workers working in Shenzhen by
advocating for legislation that will allow them to access the unemployment
insurance scheme, effective January 1, 2013. This change has implications not only
for those employed at Foxconn, but for all other migrant workers in Shenzhen."
"Significant improvements were found
regarding Foxconn’s internship program, which affects all Foxconn facilities.
The company now ensures that student interns do not work overtime; that their
work has a more direct connection to their field of study; and they understand
that they are free to terminate the internship if and when they wish. At the time of verification there were
no interns at the Guanlan and Chengdu facilities; there were, however, 46
interns at Longhua and implementation could be verified at this facility
through worker interviews."
Conclusion:
"Foxconn and Apple are carrying out the
robust remediation plan developed following FLA’s investigation, published on
March 28, 2012. Over the
past three months, steady progress has been made at the three facilities
employing an estimated 178,000 workers, and all remediation items due within
the timeframe have been completed, with others ahead of schedule."
"Some of the most
challenging action items – such as
compliance with Chinese labor law regarding hours of work – are yet to come,
and FLA will continue to engage with Apple and Foxconn to monitor and verify
progress.”
From SACOM:
“In its report,
the FLA trumpets the speedy progress at Foxconn in remediating
widespread labour rights violations. However the FLA has overstated the improvements at Foxconn.
Firstly, most of the actions completed by Foxconn
are changes at the policy level only, but few substantial changes in labour
practices were found at this stage. Secondly, Foxconn has deliberately delayed implementing
many of the actions called for in the remediation plan, even those that are
almost cost-free. Thirdly, workers have had no opportunity to participate in
the remedial action process. SACOM has repetitively demanded democratic trade
unions at Foxconn as an indispensable step in reforming its labour practices."
"Last May, SACOM issued an investigative
report on Foxconn’s labour practices in its Shenzhen
and Zhengzhou factories, Sweatshops are good for Apple and Foxconn,
but not for workers. Apart from a halt in the abusive use of student workers,
no significant progress was observed. In April, we found that workers were
still working up to 80 hours per month in overtime. Frontline management
continued to impose humiliating disciplinary measures on workers, including
forcing workers to write confession letters, read out these confession letters
to the co-workers, clean the toilets and perform other menial labour. Workers
still had little knowledge about the kinds of chemicals they were using."
"SACOM
reiterates that factory inspection alone cannot eliminate labour rights
violations. A democratic trade union trusted by workers is the most sustainable
solution towards decent working conditions.”
From CLW:
“FLA just released a status report of
the improvement at three factories of Foxconn. This report is detailed and
comprehensive, with full access and resources in the investigation. However,
China Labor Watch holds three concerns in response to the report:
1. In that report, FLA successfully
shifted the responsibility for Apple by blaming Foxconn for the previous
unsatisfying working conditions in those factories. In fact, Apple has the
responsibility and resource to improve the labor conditions of workers.
2. The harsh working conditions are by
no means isolated to just Foxconn but exist throughout Apple's supply chain.
However, that report only focused on Foxconn factories. It is Apple's entire
supply chain system that should be responsible for the squeezing of
workers.
3. Although the working hours at
Foxconn have been reduced to less than 60 hours per week, the intensity of the
hourly work has been increased. According to our follow-up investigation, the
workers have to complete the workload of 66 hours before within 60 hours now
per week. As a result, the workers get lower wages but have to work much harder
and they are not satisfied with the current situation.”
References:
3.
http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/fla-audit-shows-few-improvements-for-foxconn-workers/
