Anti-Foxconn Protest in Taiwan, Courtesy of Creative Commons

Amid a renewed public outcry about the working conditions for employers of China's Foxconn plant--where Apple's electronic devices are made--the company announced they would increase employee wages and decrease working hours.

The move was spurred by a report from the monitoring agency Fair Labor Association, which found numerous violations of Chinese labor laws at three Foxconn facilities.

The report revealed, among other points, that Foxconn employees often worked 60 hours a week for upwards of 11 days in a row.

Apple had hired the Fair Labor Association to investigate working conditions at their overseas manufacturing facilities in response to public pressure to improve them.

After the report confirmed many of the perceived violations, Foxconn announced they would enact new protocols, including limiting employee hours at 49 per week, an amount dictated by the Chinese government.

In a statement, Foxconn pledged to abide by all Chinese laws and Apple's standards:

We are committed to work with Apple to carry out the remediation program, developed by both our companies, that has been presented along with the F.L.A. audit findings and we will continue to support Apple’s initiatives to ensure that its business partners are in compliance with all relevant China laws and regulations and the F.L.A.’s Workplace Code of Conduct.”

But as the New York Times reports, Apple has previously contracted companies to audit their manufacturing facilities, once in 2006 and again last year, but the violations persist.

Apple, which has been routinely criticized for its closed-door policy in dealing with their supply chain, earlier this year made public the names of all 156 of their suppliers.