Fair Labor Association Finds Foxconn Facilities to be 'Way, Way Above Average'

The Fair Labor Association has commented on its initial inspection of Foxconn's factory saying the physical conditions are 'way, way above average of the norm', reports Reuters.

Earlier this week, Apple revealed that it had asked the FLA to conduct an audit of its final assembly suppliers.

Auret van Heerden, president of the FLA told Reuters that, "the facilities are first-class; the physical conditions are way, way above average of the norm."


"I was very surprised when I walked onto the floor at Foxconn, how tranquil it is compared with a garment factory," he said. "So the problems are not the intensity and burnout and pressure-cooker environment you have in a garment factory. . It's more a function of monotony, of boredom, of alienation perhaps."

Van Heerden also commented on why Foxconn is dealing with a rash of employee suicides.

"You have lot of young people, coming from rural areas, away from families for the first time," he said. "They're taken from a rural into an industrial lifestyle, often quite an intense one, and that's quite a shock to these young workers.

"And we find that they often need some kind of emotional support, and they can't get it," he added. Factories initially didn't realize those workers needed emotional support."


The FLA will be interviewing 35,000 workers, 30 at a time, over the next three weeks. They will be asked to answer questions anonymously using an iPad.

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