The Fair Labor Association has given Apple (AAPL) and Foxconn a tentative thumbs up for their efforts to improve working and safety conditions for their manufacturing workforce, Reuters reports. However, the association also said that Apple and Foxconn still need to submit to audits to ensure that workers aren’t made to work past the legal limit of weekly hours. To meet this goal, Apple agreed to both limit workers’ overtime hours and to hire new workers to meet production demands.
“One of the sheer engineering challenges is being able to shorten the production cycle, so that they can get it all done in 49 hours instead of 60 hours,” Auret van Heerden, president and CEO of the FLA, told Reuters. “And the other part of the challenge then is workers’ expectations.”
The FLA this past spring said it found serious labor law violations at Foxconn that included illegal overtime and shoddy safety conditions. In response, Apple not only agreed to boost safety and reduce overtime but also to also upgrade worker dormitories.
