Clearly, Apple’s biggest manufacturer is feeling the heat from Mike Daisey! Okay, probably not. But Foxconn is treating its workers better than it used to, according to a new report from The Fair Labor Association.
From Reuters:
The Fair Labor Association said on Tuesday local laws require the companies — which came under fire over conditions at the plants blamed for a series of suicides in 2010 — to reduce hours by almost a third by 2013 for the hundreds of thousands working in Foxconn plants across southern China.
Foxconn said on Wednesday it would continue to cut overtime to less than nine hours a week from the current 20, even though that could raise labor costs while also making it difficult to attract workers.
That last bit sounds like a lot of spin coming from Foxconn, presenting the idea that the workers really WANT to work incredibly long hours building iPads. But there might actually be something to it. Foxconn factories are known to be among the better places to work in China, if you have to be working in a Chinese factory anyway. Foxconn is under pressure to meet the demand of Apple and turn a profit in the process. It’ll be interesting to see if there are more reports after production of the iPad Mini really kicks in.
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