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Labor rights group reviewing conditions at Apple product factories

The company acts after reports of suicides and long hours at plants run by a business in China.

By PETER SVENSSON/The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Apple said Monday that an independent labor rights group, the Fair Labor Association, has started inspecting working conditions in the Chinese factories where Apple's iPads and iPhones are assembled.

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Sarah Ryan, left, and Shelby Knox with Change.org deliver petitions to an Apple store in New York last week. The petitions asked Apple to change its manufacturing practices and to address criticism of worker conditions at manufacturing partners operating in China.

The Associated Press

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Amid growing criticism over labor and environmental practices – especially in China – Apple last month disclosed a list of suppliers for its popular gadgets for the first time.

The FLA team began the inspections Monday morning at Foxconn City in Shenzhen, China, Apple said Monday. The complex employs and houses hundreds of thousands of workers.

Foxconn, a unit of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., employs an estimated 1 million to 1.1 million people in China at a series of huge factory campuses. Foxconn assembles iPads and iPhones for Apple, Xbox 360 gaming consoles for Microsoft and other gadgets for companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell.

In 2010, there was a rash of suicides at Foxconn's Shenzhen plant. Plant managers installed nets to prevent more people from committing suicide by jumping from the roof.

A New York Times story Jan. 26 reported on accidents and long hours in Foxconn factories, based on worker accounts. Foxconn disputed allegations of back-to-back shifts and crowded living conditions.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple has been conducting its own audits of working conditions at factories where its gadgets are assembled since 2006. A month ago, it took the additional step of joining Washington-based FLA, a group of companies and universities focused on improving labor practices.

Apple is the first technology company to become a member. It committed, at the time, to have the FLA inspect its suppliers, who have pledged full cooperation. The FLA plans to interview thousands of employees at several Apple suppliers about working and living conditions. The audits will cover facilities where more than 90 percent of Apple products are assembled.

The FLA's findings and recommendations will begin to be posted on www.fairlabor.org in early March.

Apple's sales have zoomed even as working conditions at its suppliers have drawn more attention. In the October to December quarter, it sold 37 million iPhones, 15 million iPads and 15 million iPods.