Apple has seen some heat lately over their working conditions in one of their largest manufacturing factories, Foxconn. Tim Cook has addressed the conditions in the private Apple employee discussion earlier this month and the audio stream earlier this week. In order to prove that they take working conditions very serious, he has requested that the Fair Labor Association conduct an independent audit on the working conditions. Even those this report won’t be complete until March, Reuters does have an early release regarding the initial impression of the manufacturing facility, and it is looking quite good so far.

According to the Fair Labor Association’s president Auret van Heerden, the facilities at Foxconn appear to be “first-class” in comparison to the famous sweatshops of the garment factories. He says that the monotony and boredom associated with doing repetitive assembly tasks may be among the most significant threats to the workers’ all-around health.

After his first visits to Foxconn, van Heerden said, “The facilities are first-class; the physical conditions are way, way above average of the norm.”

He spent the past several days visiting Foxconn plants to prepare for the study.

“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.

The report also notes that the Fair Labor Association has 30 employees on hand to conduct this audit, which will have Foxconn employees surveyed using iPads. Three seperate Foxconn factories representing 300,000 workers are going to be audited over the next three weeks, with 35,000 employees participating in the group’s anonymous assessment surveys.

Questions will include:

- how the workers were hired
- if they were paid a fee
- if they were offered and signed contracts and whether they understood them
- the condition of their dorm rooms and food
- if complaints are acted upon
- their emotional well being

We will have to just wait and see, but I am sure Apple would not let employees suffer when compared to other working conditions in China. What are your thoughts on the working conditions at Foxconn facilities operated for Apple? Share with us your opinions in the comments below.