APPLE IPAD WORKERS PAID $100/MONTH IN CHINA SWEATSHOPS

[Anonymous]

APPLE IPAD WORKERS PAID $100/MONTH IN CHINA SWEATSHOPS

"Among the three factories, occupational health and safety issues in Chengdu are alarming."
That passage is from a report (PDF) http://sacom.hk/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/2011-05-06_foxconn-and-apple-fail-to-fulfill-promises1.pdf

released by the Hong Kong-based group Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) two weeks before Friday’s explosion at Foxconn’s Chengdu plant that killed two workers and injured more than a dozen others.

SACOM researchers visited Foxconn plants in Chengdu, where iPads are produced; in Chongqing, a smaller facility making mostly HP products; and Foxconn’s huge campus in Shenzhen, where half a million workers assemble a variety of computers, mobile phones, and additional products for Apple, HP, Nokia, Dell, and others. The researchers claim to have observed a number of problems at the Chengdu facilities in particular:

    Workers do not have adequate training on usage of chemicals and do not have regular on-post health examinations. A number of interviewees even complain they suffer from allergy, but the management does not probe into the adverse health impacts of workers. Workers also highlight the problem of poor ventilation and inadequate personal protective equipment.

While SACOM notes the lack of ventilation as a possible threat to workers’ respiratory health, it appears that it may also have been a contributing factor to Friday’s explosion, which reportedly was centered in the "polishing" section of Foxconn’s facilities.

Chinese media in Chengdu are reporting that the explosion and resulting fire was caused by the accidental ignition of magnesium dust, perhaps by a spark from the air conditioning system or lightning. If that’s true, it’s consistent with conditions described in the SACOM report:

    Workers in the polishing department also complain that the department is full of aluminium dust. Even though they have worn gloves, their hands are still covered by dust and so is their face and clothes. Some workers comment that ventilation on the shop floor should be improved.

Both aluminum and magnesium are commonly used ingredients in industrial polish–magnesium is a highly flammable metal used in fireworks, flares, and flash powder. A buildup of such dust due to improper ventilation could have created dangerous conditions.

The SACOM report details a number of other concerns, including deceptive hiring practices, health problems from interaction with dangerous chemicals, and overcrowded worker dormitories.

When the report was initially released earlier this month, Foxconn told PCWorld that the report was inaccurate and that the company had taken measures to improve safety: "Those initiatives, together with actions we have taken to ensure that we are paying the highest wages in our industry in each location where we operate, have been well-received by our employees and the numbers speak for themselves, lives have been saved and employee retention is at an all-time high," Foxconn said.

CNET has requested additional comment from Foxconn, but no one was immediately available to respond.

Apple had not replied to a request for comment by publication time. Yesterday, the company provided a statement about the explosions to AllThingsD, saying Apple was "working closely with Foxconn to understand what caused this terrible event."

In its Supplier Responsibility 2011 Progress Report published earlier this year, Apple said, in regard to workers having been exposed to toxic chemicals at a Wintek plant in Suzhou, that it was working to improve "poor management systems for Environmental Health and Safety." And in the same report the company said that in response to a series of suicides at Foxconn’s Shenzhen factory, Apple had asked for an independent review of conditions by suicide prevention experts.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/iPad-workers-survive-on-100month-in-China-sweatshops.html
Apple iPad workers paid just $100/month in China sweatshops
Workers who make Apple iPads and iPhones at manufacturer Foxconn/Hon Hai Precision Industries Corp. in its suicide-prone China plants are still making around $100 a month, despite promised wage increases, because pay gains have been offset by the company’s cancellation of dormitory and cafeteria allowances, reports a Hong Kong labor monitoring group, Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), in this report.

Foxconn has responded to public embarrassment at its low wages and tough working conditions by moving workers to new plants in lower-wage areas inland. Foxconn plans to cut employment at its plants in China’s Shenzhen industrial heartland to 300,000 from the current 500,000 this year, as it adds plants in inland Chengdu and Chongqing.

SACOM says it interviewd 120 Foxconn workers at both old and new plants for its report. The group says it found routine forced and unpaid overtime, no meal break, lack of information on chemical hazards, underaged teenaged workers, mandatory night shift, no grievance system. Excerpts:

"Provincial governments compete with each other for Foxconn’s investment by offering concessions to the company… With strong governmental support, the workforce in Foxconn has grown to 1 million, a predominant majority of its workforce is young peasant-workers from the countryside."At recruitment talks, Foxconn paints a whole new rosy picture: high wages and good prospects. It looks like Foxconn might have reflected deeply upon its military management and low-cost production strategy, which had driven workers to despair."A number of Foxconn’s customers, notably Apple, HP and Dell, have also pledged to “work with Foxconn” to live up to higher international labour standards. A big question is how this hidden electronics supply chain really works. SACOM is interested to track the working conditions of the new Foxconn production sites to ascertain the workplace improvement in place, if any…

"While Apple commends the measures taken by Foxconn to improve working conditions, SACOM finds predicaments of workers remain:

"Workers always have excessive and forced overtime in order to gain a higher wage. Workers are exposed to dust from construction site and shop floor without adequate protection," and are often cheated of overtime pay.A "typical dauy of a worker in Chengdu" starts at 7:15 PM when the bus leaves the dormintory for the 25-minute drive to the plant, and lasts til after the end of the work shift at 10:10 PM.

"When researchers asked about the feeling of Foxconn workers about the hardship of workers, like low wages, potential harm of occupational diseases, work pressure and exhaustion, the typical answer is “I get used to that…Workers feel it is helpless to bring changes…

"Foxconn has primary responsibility in labour rights abuses. The clients, including Apple and HP, which declare decent working conditions at their suppliers have indispensible obligations to put their promise into practice… Labour rights violations in Chengdu are the most problematic, Apple, the sole buyer of Chengdu plant, must take actions to improve working conditions at Foxconn." No immediate comment when I asked Apple to respond.

[Author]

May 25, 2011 at 8:00 AM