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SACOM report shows factory worker abuses continue, despite pledges made in March

WASHINGTON, DC - On Friday, Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), an independent non-profit labor advocacy organization based in Hong Kong, released a report that documents working conditions at Foxconn factories throughout China and provides details into worker abuses that continue despite commitments made by Apple and Foxconn executives.

Apple promised to address working conditions in the Chinese factories that build iPhones, iPods and iPads in March after a Fair Labor Association (FLA) report highlighted ways in which Apple could improve conditions. But since March, little has changed in the day-to-day lives of the hundreds of thousands of workers responsible for production. In fact, take-home pay has gone down for some workers, despite promises in the FLA report to protect pay levels and ensure that all workers get a living wage.

According to Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffmann, Executive Director of SumOfUs.org, "Apple has repeatedly broken promises to stop the abuse of workers in its supply chain. Now, after Apple's most recent promises, we learn that workers have yet to benefit in the slightest –and in fact some are worse off than they were before the report. The most worrying finding of all is that some workers' production targets are being increased beyond reasonable expectations, and then they are forced to work unpaid overtime if they don't meet those targets. This is abuse, plain and simple –and a way of lying to Apple consumers, regulators, and the press about how much overtime workers are actually working."

SACOM researchers conducted investigations around two of Foxconn’s production sites, interviewing more than 170 workers. The SACOM report found concerns with freedom of speech and association. During orientation, workers were warned not to speak to journalists or researchers without permission from management, and workers were ordered to sign up for the company-controlled union.

The report found that iPad workers were forced to work excessive overtime, and were barred from taking leave for family reunions during the Chinese New Year. Overtime work for iPad workers remained at 80 hours in April. Management used humiliating disciplinary measures on workers, including forcing workers to write confession letters, cleaning toilets and physical labor. Workers received inadequate work and safety training, and were not informed about the chemicals they were working with, and numerous cases of industrial injuries were documented.

The SACOM report is based off research conducted between March and May of 2012 and finds that many workers are either forced to work illegally excessive overtime, or have their overtime hours slashed, making it hard to make ends meet on the poverty wages workers are paid. According to the report, Apple has failed to come into compliance with overtime laws and increase workers’ take-home pay to a basic living wage as promised in its March FLA report, despite the fact that Apple Inc. is the largest company in the world and has the cash on hand, the centralized supply chain and the organizational heft to push the Chinese manufacturing industry to change its practices.

"All the evidence so far suggests that Apple is simply taking us for a ride," Stinebrickner-Kauffman continued. "There's just no reason that the richest company in the history of the world can't figure out how to pay workers a living wage, comply with basic labor laws, and stop these abuses -- unless it's simply not trying."

SumOfUs.org launched the watchdog website www.ethicaliphone.org to monitor the working conditions and changes at Apple’s Foxconn factories in China. The battery of an interactive iPhone icon featured on the site is set to die by Apple’s self-imposed deadline to fix working conditions at Foxconn. EthicaliPhone.org serves as clearinghouse for information on working conditions at Apple’s Chinese manufacturers and a launching pad for change. The project was launched after January’s New York Times expose on working conditions in Apple’s supply chain. SumOfUs.org ran an intensive campaign with the participation of over 130,000 consumers worldwide pushing Apple to improve conditions. SumOfUs is calling on Apple to: pay workers a living wage; end illegal overtime; eliminate hazardous working conditions; support worker participation in decision making; welcome genuinely independent monitoring; and to end the use of involuntary slave labor.

SumOfUs.org is a global movement of consumers, investors, and workers all around the world, standing together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable and just path for our global economy. http://sumofus.org/about/