iSweatShop
From MacWorld: “The hard truth about iPods.”
Put your iPod on pause for a moment. There is something you should know: The Chinese factory workers who assembled your music player work long hours and do not earn a lot of money.
Many of these workers are employed by Hon Hai Precision Industry, a Taiwanese contract manufacturer known by its Foxconn brand, the Mail On Sunday, a U.K. newspaper, reported last weekend.
Low-paid workers toil long hours at Hon Hai’s Longhua, China, plant to produce Apple’s popular iPod nano music player, the newspaper said. It put the monthly salary of these workers at £27 (US$50). Workers at a different company that produces the iPod shuffle were paid £54 per month. These workers paid for their own room and board, which amounted to around half of their salary, it said.
Click here for Wired’s take on the news. Also, Apple’s lame, form-letter response.
Update: BusinessWeek weighs in with “High-tech’s ’sweatshop’ wake-up call.”
