foxconn

Foxconn fiasco not Apple's finest hour

"We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain," Apple's CEO Tim Cook wrote in a late January letter to employees.

A couple of weeks later, Cook returned to the same theme at an investor conference, where he said that "no one in our industry is doing more to improve working conditions than Apple."

Really?

After the release of an audit yesterday by the Fair Labor Association we can measure those claims against the evidence. Apple may indeed be serious about improving the conditions of people working for its suppliers in China, but it'… Read more

Apple's supply chain: A portrait of a Foxconn factory worker

The average Foxconn worker logs at least 56 hours a week, finds the factory stressful, has seen an accident, wants better air conditioning, and plans on a tenure of about two years. That worker also wants better food in the canteen.

Welcome to Apple's supply chain.

After logging 3,000 staff hours while investigating three factories since February, the Fair Labor Association finally released its very detailed report about labor rights violations going on within the factories of Apple's largest supplier, Foxconn. What has emerged from the report is a composite sketch of the day in the life … Read more

Consequences? Bah. Foxconn report shows no sign, critics say

The Fair Labor Association's scathing report of workplace abuses at three Chinese factories of Apple-supplier Foxconn was met with some skepticism by at least one labor-rights watchdog.

The violations in wages and overtime are hardly new, nor are they surprising. After all, Apple itself has documented many of these problems for years on its Supplier Responsibility Web site.

Much of the new report (PDF) acknowledges what's already known -- that workers at three Foxconn factories put in excessive overtime and get paid wages that don't often cover basic needs. But the report lays out no consequences for … Read more

FLA-led Foxconn audit finds violations, fixes promised

The first results from the Fair Labor Association's audit of Foxconn have revealed violations in wages and overtime, conditions that the Chinese manufacturing giant has pledged to remedy.

The audit, which was posted to the FLA's Web site this afternoon, found all three factories in the region to be in violation of both the labor organization's code standard, and Chinese law in hours worked by employees. The FLA said these factories "exceeded" 60 hours per worker, which Foxconn has now said will be scaled back to 49 hours per week by July 1, 2013.

Foxconn … Read more

Keep on rockin' in the free version

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

Spotify extends free, unlimited trial Bump Pay transfers money Free Photoshop CS6 preview Apple CEO Tim Cook visits China Kindle Fire update Amazon CEO found rockets from Apollo 11 Subscribe: iTunes (MP3) | iTunes (320x180) | iTunes (HD) | RSS (MP3) | RSS (320x180) | RSS HD

Apple CEO Cook visits Foxconn iPhone factory

Apple CEO Tim Cook has visited a Foxconn factory in China where iPhones are manufactured as the company grapples with criticism over its handling of working conditions in its supply chain.

Cook inspected a newly constructed facility in Zhengzhou, China, that employs 120,000 people, Apple spokesperson Carolyn Wu told Bloomberg. Wu declined to discuss what Cook has planned for the remainder of his visit or how much longer he's expected to be in the country.

Earlier this week, Apple's chief executive was spotted in the Joy City Apple Store in Beijing, looking over his company's products … Read more

Apple TV set said to be coming in 2013

The newest in the long line of Apple TV set rumors is that indeed the device is on the way but most likely not until 2013.

"We continue to view Apple TV hardware as a 2013 event," an Asian research group CLSA said in a note today, according to the news site Business Insider.

The note goes on to note that Foxconn, which manufactures Apple products, has decided to invest in Sharp electronics, giving more credibility to the notion that an Apple TV set is in the works. According to Business Insider, Sharp will provide the panels for … Read more

Apple supplier Hon Hai buying stake in Sharp

Stung by huge losses and dwindling sales, Sharp Electronics is selling a chunk of itself to Hon Hai in a bid to raise cash and expand its LCD TV production.

Hon Hai will purchase about 11 percent of Sharp and 46.5 percent of the company's LCD TV factory in Sakai, Japan. Once the deal is done, the factory will be 46.5 percent owned by Sharp, the same amount by Hon Hai, and 7 percent owned by Sony. In return, Sharp will issue about $800 million in stock to Hon Hai, according to a New York Times report.… Read more

Group seeks recall of Daisey-inspired petition on iPad labor

A petition circulated on Change.org in January that targeted Apple -- demanding that it do more to protect workers in China who help build iPads -- was based on discredited claims and should be recalled, says a new petition.

More than 255,000 people signed the original petition posted to Change.org in early January by Mark Shields following a report about the human cost of Apple's labor practices on the radio show This American Life. The report has since been retracted by the show's producers.

Shields' petition, which called for Apple to create "a worker … Read more

Mike Daisey's latest excuse: I was quoted out of context

Mike Daisey, the actor and Apple critic, claims that some of the material used during his interview with radio show "This American Life" was taken out of context.

On his blog, Daisey today wrote: "Four hours of grilling edited down to fifteen minutes. I thought the dead air was a nice touch, and finishing the episode with audio pulled out of context from my performance was masterful."

A spokeswoman for This American Life declined to comment.

On Friday, the Chicago-based show said it could no longer vouch for a January episode in which it used excerpts … Read more