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Apple and Foxconn - iAudit

2012-04-03 11:27:19

Mar 30th 2012, 8:58 by M.B.| NEW YORK

IS IT possible to run an ethical supply chain ? After the publication on March

29th of the first independent audit of the factories Apple uses in China, the

iconic consumer electronics giant has definitely become the test case for

whether multinationals can put an end to labour abuses. According to the long

awaited report, which is considered one of the most detailed audits of a

Chinese manufacturer to date, there were at least 50 serious and pressing

non-compliances with Chinese law and Apple's code of conduct, including

excessive overtime and other health and safety violations.

Apple had asked the Fair Labour Association (FLA), a non-government

organisation, to conduct the audit following a burst of bad publicity over

reports of workers being abused, particularly at factories in China operated by

Hon Hai, known as Foxconn, the world s biggest contract manufacturer. The FLA

visited Foxconn factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu, and surveyed some 35,000

workers at three facilities where Apple products, including iPhones and iPads,

are assembled.

At all three, during the past 12 months workers on average exceeded the limit

of 60 hours of work a week stipulated in Apple s code of conduct. Many also

worked more than 36 hours overtime a month, China's legal limit. Nearly half of

workers surveyed said that they had had an accident or seen one. On the other

hand, no workers appear to have been under age (in contrast with a recent

internal audit by Apple), and the FLA says that conditions were "no worse than

any other factory in China".

Apple and its chief executive Tim Cook (pictured, talking to employees during

his visit of the iPhone production line at the newly built Foxconn Zhengzhou

Technology Park, Henan province, on March 28), to their credit, welcomed the

report and agreed to support its recommendations. "We think empowering workers

and helping them understand their rights is essential," the said in a

statement. And it claimed that is has been working quietly on these issues for

years, albeit clearly with only mixed results. Foxconn has told the FLA that it

will reduce working hours to legal limits by July 2013, which is a start. The

FLA says this will require Foxconn to recruit tens of thousands of extra

workers.

Compliance will not be easy as long as Apple's existing business model remains

unchanged. The evidence from other big consumer brands suggest that most abuses

of workers particularly when it comes to overtime occur when a factory is under

pressure to meet a sudden surge in demand, often around product launches. The

same appears to be true of Apple, judging by comments made by Auret van

Heerden, FLA's chief executive. Working hours, he said at the presentation of

the audit, were being "blown out" during peak periods like device launches and

the holidays.

The big question is: Can Apple find a way to reengineer its product cycle in

such a way that it does not put the factories it uses under excessive strain

next time it launches a new iPhone or iPad?