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      NEW YORK (AP) - Apple said Monday that an independent group, the
Fair Labor Association, has started inspecting working conditions
in the Chinese factories where its iPads and iPhones are assembled.


      Amid growing criticism over labor and environmental practices
- especially in China - Apple, last month, 

 for its popular gadgets for the first time.


      The FLA team began the inspections Monday morning at Foxconn
City in Shenzhen, China, Apple said Monday. The complex employs and
houses hundreds of thousands of workers.


      Foxconn, a unit of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.
employs an estimated 1 million to 1.1 million people in China at a
series of huge factory campuses. Foxconn assembles iPads and
iPhones for Apple, Xbox 360 gaming consoles for Microsoft and other
gadgets for companies including Hewlett-Packard and Dell.


      In 2010, there was a rash of suicides at Foxconn's Shenzhen
plant. Plant managers installed nets to prevent more people from
committing suicide by jumping from the roof. A May explosion at the
company's Chengdu, China, plant killed three people and injured 15.
A New York Times story published Jan. 26 reported on accidents and
long hours in Foxconn factories, based on workers' accounts.
Foxconn disputed allegations of back-to-back shifts and crowded
living conditions.


      Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple has been conducting its own audits
of working conditions at factories where its gadgets are assembled
since 2006. A month ago, it took the additional step of joining
Washington-based FLA, a group of companies and universities focused
on improving labor practices.


      Apple, the most valuable company in the world, is the first
technology company to become a member. It committed, at the time,
to have the FLA inspect its suppliers, who have pledged full
cooperation. The FLA plans to interview thousands of employees at
several Apple suppliers about working and living conditions. The
audits will cover facilities where more than 90 percent of Apple
products are assembled.


      The FLA's findings and recommendations will begin to be posted
on www.fairlabor.org in early March.


      Apple's sales have zoomed even as working conditions at its
suppliers have drawn more attention. In the October to December
quarter, it sold 37 million iPhones, 15 million iPads and 15
million iPhones.


      Consumer activism site Change.org gathered 200,000 signatures
for a petition to ask Apple to protect workers around the time of
new product releases, when the workload spikes. Activists
hand-delivered printouts of the signatures to Apple stores last
week, but the group has stopped short of arranging protest
gatherings or calling for a boycott.


      Meanwhile, investors keep bidding up the company's shares in the
wake of the company's staggering sales and profit over its holiday
quarter. Apple's stock surpassed $500 for the first time Monday,
giving the company a market capitalization of $465 billion. Exxon
Mobil Corp., which has been trading the No. 1 position with Apple
since last summer, has a $400 billion market cap.
     
      
      
      

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Business and Economic News

Apple said Monday that an independent group, the
Fair Labor Association, has started inspecting working conditions
in the Chinese factories where its iPads and iPhones are assembled.

Independent group inspecting Apple suppliers

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