Fair Labor Association Says Apple Factories Are ''First Class''

*checking brand new ipad* "yep, I do not see any problem here, moving on."

totally unbiased.

"way, way above average."

Well, it all depends now on what the '"average" is based on, now isn't it :-)

It could be like saying we pay more than the average worker (in rural Kentucky) is making.

There's your problem.

I have a cousin who works at Foxconn. He has never complained about working conditions.

These inspections are not reliable. Everybody knows as soon as inspectors come, the Chinese factories put on a show for them and make everything seem nice while hiding the truth away. Obviously I'd trust anonymous workers actually there to tell the truth. After all, why would they kill themselves if they were just "bored"? Seriously Apple, nobody is deceived by this.

The FLA says nothing about actual working conditions. Just that working at Foxcon is better than working at other factories in "CHINA".
They appear more like corporate PR personel.

Given that the result is a factory that does better than other factories in China, is the Foxconn facility Apple uses the only one that 'puts on a show for inspectors'? Are all factories crap and Foxconn is the only one that cares enough to try and fake it? I don't doubt that there could be factors influencing the results and how accurate they are, but let's at least look at the whole of evidence rather than trying to color it to fit a predetermined perspective.

As for suicide for being "bored", the article references monotony and a sense of alienation as well, and then goes on to explain it being rooted in a vastly different lifestyle then when they were raised. Given that teenage suicide in America is often due to feelings of insecurity, alienation, and listlessness, it doesn't seem all that unreasonable. It's still tragic; but people kill themselves for reasons that feel like very big reasons to them, even if they're not.

Hmm, so I guess Apple refuses to see that this was JUST published less than 2 weeks ago?
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/A [...] 14643.html

Of course their workers are treated like property, and it's a terrible thing. Just because they're "better than other factories in China" doesn't mean crap. Let me know when you've got some real improvement Apple.

So other facilities in China use slavers? Sorry, couldn't resist...

Fair Labor Association Says Apple Factories Are ''First Class''

Fair Labor rep under apple reps desk: "Hows that?"
Apple rep: "Nice, but a little to the left."

Either the factories temporarily improved conditions seconds before the inspectors stepped through the door, or Apple is getting its gloves really dirty.

Not knocking you or anything, but I've been in a few companies where they refer to you as a "resource"

because that is your best option... if i lived in china and foxxcon was the best job i would kill myself too...

i will never understand why people keep trying to apply a first world country pay and quality of living to an impoverished 3rd world country...

i mean a sweat shop is bad, but its really the best option for them... the only way for them to have any quality of life. as long as people chose to work there, i couldn't care less about their complaints.

I've worked at one company myself where I was treated like that. Over here, we have the option to seek other employment. We don't realize that others don't always have that privilege.

This organization is paid by the organizations that it monitors.....CONFLICT OF INTEREST!!!

The reasons why the factories are so quiet is because you get fired if you get caught talking.

Workers get lifelong injuries after a few years working because workers are required to constantly do the same thing until they get an extremely bad form of carpal tunnel that effects the hands to such an extent that they are often unable to do even basic things with their hands.

The working conditions in the factory in china would lead to criminal charges if done in the US.

But there is also the case that the workers are not being forced to work, they can quit at anytime. (problem is that it is still better than many of the other work opportunities available to those people

I wonder how much apple paid for this report?

I don't want to know "how much better it is then the garment industry" I want to know if there operations can run with little modification in the US, without bringing down a rain of lawsuits, till then these people can say all they want. In my mind all this talk translates into is "Our slaves are treated much better then those others, so its ok... now here's something shiny to detract you"

The Fair Labor Association's initial response tells me more about their loyalties and nothing about the conditions in which these workers "live"/ [exist] in. Instead of subjective responses like the factories are "First Class" why not give an objective, unbiased assessment of the living standards in the factory?

In the interest of addressing the issues that brought on the investigation, how does the Fair Labor Association propose to reduce the number of attempted suicides in the factories and how did it come to those conclusions? Namely, who are these "support employees" and specifically how would they help suicidal people cope with these undefined "lifestyle change[s]" that rural people apparently can't cope with?

My intuition tells me that instead of focusing their spending on "support employees" they should spend that money and then some on positive ways to impact their worker's living conditions (a tiny portion of this would include some counseling).

If the suicides in the factory were a plea for change in the factory worker's living conditions, would insisting on half-measures or inadequate improvements by a monitoring agency be a criminally negligent act?

The Fair Labor Association's initial response tells me more about their loyalties and nothing about the conditions in which these workers "live"/ [exist] in. Instead of subjective responses like the factories are "First Class" why not give an objective, unbiased assessment of the living standards in the factory?

In the interest of addressing the issues that brought on the investigation, how does the Fair Labor Association propose to reduce the number of attempted suicides in the factories and how did it come to those conclusions? Namely, who are these "support employees" and specifically how would they help suicidal people cope with these undefined "lifestyle change[s]" that rural people apparently can't cope with?

My intuition tells me that instead of focusing their spending on "support employees" they should spend that money and then some on positive ways to impact their worker's living conditions (a tiny portion of this would include some counseling).

If the suicides in the factory were a plea for change in the factory worker's living conditions, would insisting on half-measures or inadequate improvements by a monitoring agency be a criminally negligent act?

When I think of "first Class" treatment, I think of "first class" airlines, with complimentary mimosa's and real food. Or I think of when I worked for the oil companies with free snack rooms that looked like quick-e-mart's, prime rib with seafood, private rooms, on site pool and movie theater etc...

Somehow I doubt the factory is what an American would consider first class.. But when you compare it to a grass hut in Ethiopia then yes, its first class....

1) /jedi mind trick "These are not the sweat shop workers you are looking for"

2) "conditions at the factories are better than those at garment factories or other facilities in China" so compared to a nightmarish hell hole these aren't that bad ... well that's something. Maybe one day we can compare it to a US Prison workshop or an inner city convenience store night shift and see how it rates.

How about undercover reporter from Tom's Hardware, disguised as an average working person at Foxconn, secretly reporting from his/her Android tablet, disguised as an ipad.

I'm going to blast some of the lamers posting idiotic stuff in here -- and by far, it seems to be a minority but needs to be said. There's a reason apple chose to manufacture in China. It's to cut down on high cost of US labor (offshoring, right?). Relatively speaking foxconn's facilities is much better than average china factories. Comparing apples to apples. (no pun intended).

Not sure what you what them to really do... bring things up to US code of payment, safety, etc? Defeats the whole purpose of off shoring then, doesn't it. Now is it fair? Perhaps not on all levels...but life isnt fair. When the CEO's of the company I work for are pulling in 100 million a year while paying everyone else peanuts, theres no fairness in that. Those employees wanted to work, and they received work.

Also, this garbage about how the inspector was using ipad 2 and therefore is biased... is garbage. Everyone and their grandmothers have some sort of Apple device. Hell, even chinese people have apple devices. Why do you think apple is so overbloated right now stock wise?

Everybody put on your tinfoil hats...

Moments before this announcement, a mysterious $1M deposit was noted in the Fair Labor Association's bank account.

Seriously, it would be interesting to find out just what companies and people make up the "Fair Labor Association." One of the "members" is, you guessed it, crApple.

comparing an assembly plant to where the suicides and lethal poisonings are are not happening, which is actually the manufacturing floors is like inspecting the national guards home base in america instead of the front line in afganistan. and saying" well it's better here then in bagdad iraq"

and to top it off the inspectors are not OSHA trained and in china everyone has a price, and it is usually pretty low, so they can be bought pretty easily as well as tipped off about inspectors coming, much like the U.N. nuclear inspectors in Iran have been being dealt with for the last 2 decades.

From the FAQ on the Fair Labor Association webpage:

We all know how organizations love to bite the hands that feed them. In research you always look for sources of bias, especially when it comes to funding. We all know how good the research that big tobacco funded was...

To be honest the Fair Labour Association is most likely dead right: The working conditions at Foxconn and other Apple suppliers (Foxconn, Pegatron) are "way, way above average". It just means that all the other factories in China (that make light bulbs, childrens' toys, toasters, etc) have extremely terrible working conditions.

That being said, compare any Chinese factory to similar factories around the world -- you can be sure that the working conditions are much better in countries like Japan, Germany, and the US.

Im bored
gonna go kill my self......

gonna be interesting to see what the fully report is
"I CANT BELIEVE I GOT FREE NEW IPADS!"

I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

first class huh?? I'm sure there's a bunch of Chinese working for 51 cents an hour that would take issue with that claim.