SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A labor group monitoring three Chinesefactories that make iPhones and
other Apple products saysonce-oppressive working conditions have steadily improved in the last 18months,
but more must be done to reduce the amount of overtime thatemployees work.The audit released Thursday by
the Fair LaborAssociation represents the final assessment in a process that startedlast year at plants
run in China by Apple’s largest supplier, Foxconn.Reportsdepicting the Foxconn plants as inhumane
sweatshops prompted Apple Inc.to hold its foreign contractors to higher standards. The Cupertino,Calif.,
company joined the Fair Labor Association last year as part of acommitment to improve the
situation.Apple is the only major techcompany in a 14-year-old labor group that also includes
clothingmakers, shoe makers and other manufacturers promising to curb abuses inoverseas factories.The
report concluded Foxconn factories inLonghua, Chengdu and Guanlan had reached virtually all the goals
set outin a plan adopted last year."We are proud of the progress wehave made together with the FLA
and Foxconn," Apple said in a statement."Our suppliers must live up to the toughest standards
in the industryif they want to keep doing business with Apple."Excessively longwork schedules
remain a problem, however. The FLA says more than half ofthe 170,000 employees at the Foxconn factories
exceeded China’s legallimit of 36 monthly overtime hours from March through October.Foxconnplants in
Longhua and Chengdu consistently limited workers’ time on theclock below 60 hours per week during the
review period, according tothe FLA. That met the labor group’s standards, but surpassed China’slegal
limit of 49 hours per week.Apple said it has reducedexcessive overtime at Foxconn and other suppliers,
cutting the averageworkweek to 53 hours, which the company said is well below industrynorms."We
will continue to provide transparency by reportingworking-hours compliance each month on our website and
we are committedto reducing overtime even further," Apple said.The Guanlan factory exceeded the
60-hour work week during seven weeks of the FLA’s review period.Foxconn is part of Hon Hai Precision
Industry Co.Foxconn’sprogress is "a significant step in the right direction," said Auret
vanHeerden, FLA’s president. He said the FLA expects Apple to continuepushing Foxconn to pare the amount
of time that Foxconn employees work.Evenas conditions at the Foxconn factories plants improve, there
arerecurring complaints about abuses at other Chinese facilities that makeApple products.China Labor
Watch, a nonprofit group that monitorsChinese factories, said in a recent report that it uncovered a
widerange of violations during an examination of factories in Shanghai andSuzhou run by Apple contractor
Pegatron Corp. The problems includedsexual discrimination, excessive working hours, poor living
conditionsand pollution.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rightsreserved. This material may not
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