iPod \'sweatshop\' claims

iPod component manufacturer Foxconn Electronics has denied a recent report alleging that the company was making iPods in sweatshops. A spokesperson for the company said that there were "huge discrepancies between the truth and the claims in the report," according to the Digitimes. Last week, the UK-based The Mail claimed that iPods were being made in Chinese factories by employees working in "slave" conditions. "The paper alleged that one factory at Longhua -- a town just outside the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen -- employed 200,000 workers, each of whom had to work 15 hours a day for a monthly pay of US$50. The paper said the workers lived in rooms which housed 100 people each. However, Ding pointed out that Foxconn has a workforce of only about 160,000 employees worldwide [and] maintained that Foxconn abides by the employment law in China." The company also said it has continued to make improvements to workers' living conditions, providing safe and well-equipped dormitories complete with free laundry service, sports facilities, libraries, and other facilities. Apple last week said it was investigating the claims of labor abuse and that it maintains a strict code of conduct for its suppliers.

by MacNN Staff