Some time ago we wrote about Apple's report on how the company tries to improve the worker protections and factory conditions at Foxconn factories (you can read this post here). But it seems that Apple's commitment to the improvement of working conditions is more serious than some might think. The company announced today announced that the Fair Labor Association will conduct special voluntary audits of Apple’s final assembly suppliers, including Foxconn factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu in China. All this at Apple’s request! A team of labor rights experts led by FLA president Auret van Heerden began the first inspections Monday morning at the facility in Shenzhen - which is also known as "Foxconn City".

“We believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair work environment, which is why we’ve asked the FLA to independently assess the performance of our largest suppliers,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “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.”

The FLA will interview thousands of employees about working and living conditions including health and safety, compensation, working hours and communication with management. The FLA’s team will inspect manufacturing areas, dormitories and other facilities, and will conduct an extensive review of documents related to procedures at all stages of employment. The findings and recommendations from the first assessments will be posted in early March, so we will keep you posted.

FLA plans to conduct similar inspections at Quanta and Pegatron facilities later this Spring, and when completed, the FLA’s assessment will cover facilities where more than 90 percent of Apple products are assembled.

And if you want to find details of Apple’s supplier responsibility program, including the results of more than 500 factory audits led by Apple throughout its supply chain over the past five years, you can check out this site.

It is also worth noting, that Apple is the first technology company admitted to the Fair Labor Association. Will other companies follow?

Source: http://www.apple.com | http://www.fairlabor.org