Apple on Monday announced the Fair Labor Association (FLA) is set to conduct voluntary audits of their final assembly suppliers, including Foxconn factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu in China.
Led by FLA president Auret van Heerden, experts began their first inspections on Monday at Foxconn City facility in Shenzhen.
“We believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair work environment, which is why we have asked the FLA to independently assess the performance of our largest suppliers,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said.
“The inspections now underway are unprecedented in the electronics industry, both in scale and scope, and we appreciate the FLA agreeing to take the unusual step of identifying the factories in their reports.”
Interviewing thousands of employees, the FLA will enquire labourers’ about their working and living conditions, work hours and communication with management.
Manufacturing areas, dormitories and other facilities will be inspected, and employment stages documents reviewed alongside their related procedures. Suppliers have offered the FLA unrestricted access.
The FLA’s will finalise first assessment results by early March. They will be made available online at www.fairlabor.org. Similar inspections are set to be conducted at Quanta and Pegatron facilities, covering areas producing over 90% of Apple’s products.
Apple has annually audited every supply assembly factory since 2006, including 40 audits of Foxconn manufacturing.
Staff writer
