Working conditions in China: What HP, Samsung, Lenovo are doing

Apple has come under heavy scrutiny for working conditions in the overseas factories it uses

Apple's rivals are quick to say how much better, faster, cheaper or more popular their smartphones, computers and tablets are.

Yet when it comes to working conditions in the Chinese factories that build these competing products, Apple's electronics rivals go silent.

In recent months, Apple has come under heavy scrutiny for working conditions in the overseas factories it uses, specifically those of Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer.

Amid criticism that it hadn't been vigilant enough, Apple announced it would employ the Fair Labor Association, an independent auditor, to review the manufacturing plants it uses and publicly identify factories where worker abuses take place.

Apple, no paragon of communication, has been publishing reports of the practices of its vendors since 2007, and it eventually, after numerous requests by advocacy and news organizations, shared the names of 156 direct suppliers. It has pledged to go "deeper into the supply chain" in its own published audits.

In the past week I have asked Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Microsoft and others about their reports on labor conditions. Most responded with a boilerplate public relations message. Some didn't even respond.

The answer from Barnes & Noble, maker of the Nook e-reader, was typical. Mary Ellen Keating, a senior vice president, said only, "We don't comment on our supply chain vendors."

Lenovo emailed an off-topic report on sustainability. Samsung, which sells more cellphones than Apple, gave no response.

Although some technology companies, like Microsoft, share some information about their audits, none go into detail about the violations they find inside specific facilities. Microsoft, which says it works with the Fair Labor Association to perform worker surveys, says it conducts regular audits of its supplier factories and takes "corrective action" where necessary. The reports are made public, but they are summarized.

Amazon declined to comment specifically about the worker conditions in its suppliers' factories, which include Foxconn, but pointed to a section of its website that mentions audits by a third party. The company does not make the reports public.

David Frink, a senior public affairs manager at Dell, said the company was assisting Foxconn to "improve the wages and reduce overtime hours" of its factory workers.

A report on Hewlett-Packard's website details working conditions from 2010 but it has not been updated since. In the detailed report, the company notes that more than 51 percent of the factories it works with were in violation of working hour labor laws.

Foxconn has vowed to fix problems the FLA disclosed, reduce worker hours and increase pay. But there is still less visibility into problems farther up the supply chain.

The other makers of tablets and devices could talk more about worker conditions in their factories.

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