The recent CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, reported that the technology company is doing all it can to address growing concerns regarding the working conditions of its Chinese manufacturing plants. Recent attention has been focused on abuse at Chinese plants run by the manufacturer Foxconn. There have been reports of long working hours, a secretive militaristic culture, and underage workers. At the annual Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco, seating hundreds of investors, Cook said, “We know people have a very high expectation of Apple. No one in our industry is doing more to improve working conditions than Apple.”
The CEO agreed on the violations of the number of hours employees should be allowed to work and reported that Apple’s code of conduct permits for no more than 60 hours a week, which is 20 hours more than an average work week for American workers. “We think the use of under aged labor is abhorrent. It’s extremely rare in our supply chain, but our top priority is to eliminate it totally. We’ve done that with our final assembly and we’re now working with vendors farther down in the supply chain. If we find a supplier that intentionally hires underage labor, it’s a firing offense,” Cook said at the conference. “We’re determined to drive widespread change.”
