BEIJING (Reuters) - Working conditions at Chinese
manufacturing plants where Apple Inc's iPads and iPhones are made are far better
than those at garment factories or other facilities elsewhere in the country,
according to the head of a non-profit agency investigating the plants.
The Fair Labor Association (FLA) is beginning a study of the
working conditions of Apple's top eight suppliers in China, following reports
of worker suicides, a plant explosion and slave-like conditions at one of those
suppliers, Foxconn Technology Group.
Auret van Heerden, president of the FLA offered no immediate
conclusions on the working conditions, but he noted that boredom and alienation
could have contributed to the stress that led some workers to take their own
lives.
In addition to Foxconn, FLA investigators will later visit
facilities of Quanta Computer Inc, Pegatron Corp, Wintek Corp and other
suppliers, who are notoriously tight-lipped about their operations.
After his first visits to Foxconn, van Heerden said,
"The facilities are first-class; the physical conditions are way, way
above average of the norm."
He spent the past several days visiting Foxconn plants to
prepare for the study.
"I was very surprised when I walked onto the floor at
Foxconn, how tranquil it is compared with a garment factory," he said.
"So the problems are not the intensity and burnout and pressure-cooker
environment you have in a garment factory. . It's more a function of monotony,
of boredom, of alienation perhaps."
He noted that the organization has been dealing with
suicides in Chinese factories since the 1990s.
**
What does the FLA suggest as the reason Foxconn workers are committing suicide? Boredom: He says, "You have lot of young people, coming from rural areas,
away from families for the first time," he said. "They're taken from
a rural into an industrial lifestyle, often quite an intense one, and that's
quite a shock to these young workers.
"And we find that they often need some kind of
emotional support, and they can't get it," he added. Factories initially
didn't realize those workers needed emotional support."
Apple must be innocent because they're a member of our group?
"Apple didn't need to join the FLA," he said.
"The FLA system is very tough. It involves unannounced visits, complete
access, public reporting.
"If Apple wanted to take the easy way out there were a
whole host of options available to them," he added. "The fact that
they joined the FLA shows they were really serious about raising their
game."
REALLY? There ya go. Let's all go back to our lives and ignore all of this nonsense about horrendous working conditions, eye witness accounts of inhuman treatment, and the use of known neurotoxins to clean your iPad screens shall we? It's all a big misunderstanding. These simple peasant people are so overwhelmed by our big, beautiful factory and our swimming pools and movie theaters that they have no choice but to kill themselves because we're giving them wonderful, safe, fulfilling jobs.
RIIIGGGHT.
Some 30 FLA staff members are visiting two Foxconn factories
in Shenzhen in southern China and one in the central city of Chengdu. Each plant
has about 100,000 workers, although not all work on Apple products.
Over three weeks, some 35,000 workers will be interviewed
about 30 at a time to answer questions anonymously, entering their responses
onto Apple iPads.
Questions will include:
* how the workers were hired
* if they were paid a fee
* if they were offered and signed contracts and whether they
understood them
* the condition of their dorm rooms and food
* if complaints are acted upon
* their emotional well being
The data will be uploaded immediately and consolidated, and
an interim report will be made public in early March.
The eventual FLA report will identify areas the suppliers
need to improve and offer suggestions, van Heerden said.
**
STILL WAITING TO READ THE RESULTS OF THIS REPORT....
(Reporting by Terril Yue Jones and Venus Wu; Editing by
Derek Caney)
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