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Poor Conditions Reported for iPod Builders

Monday, June 12th, 2006 at 11:55 AM - by Staff

Working conditions for the employees that build iPods may not be up to U.S. standards. The factories in China where Apple's iPod nano and shuffle models are manufactured are staffed primarily by women who work 15-hour days and live in "iPod City" dormitories with 100 other people. A report in London's Mail on Sunday, claims that employees building iPod nanos earn about US$50 a month, and that visitors from outside the factories aren't allowed in. Workers in the iPod shuffle facilities make about $99 a month, but half of that goes back to their food and lodging at the factory.

Product manufacturing costs have driven many companies, including Apple, to China-based manufacturing plants.

The reported working conditions certainly look like a bad mark for Apple, which currently holds the majority of the portable MP3 player market. The company recently touted its pro-environmental stance with its new computer recycling program.

Representatives from Apple were unavailable for comment.

[Thanks to Macworld UK for pointing out the Mail on Sunday article]

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:30 pm

I'm not saying it is right for anybody to have such a standard of living, but that is actually a pretty good wage as I understand it. The fact of the matter is that most people comfortable in our western standard of living are not very aware of how much of the world lives. We certainly need to be better educated about the issues and think about how our decisions affect these people, but I don't think we should single out Apple. I believe these people in these jobs are glad to make that much and to be able to send some of their wage back to their family. I'm glad that this issue can get some visibility. Makes me think twice about the things I enjoy and take for granted. We are truely blessed.

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Biff said:

member since 08 Apr 2004 with 1479 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:45 pm

Wait, people in China who assemble products for export to other countries get paid crappy?!?! Dude I never knew that!!! Props to "Mail on Sunday" for once again using the iPod brand to try and get attention for an otherwise pointless article.

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LaurieF said:

member since 15 Jun 2001 with 3547 posts, TMO Forum Mod, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:34 pm

Guest wrote:
I'm not saying it is right for anybody to have such a standard of living, but that is actually a pretty good wage as I understand it.

How do you understand it?

Guest wrote:
I believe these people in these jobs are glad to make that much and to be able to send some of their wage back to their family.

What do you base this belief on? What are standard wages in China? what are standard conditions? I'm not suggesting that what you're saying is necessarily incorrect but it's just hearsay, or what you'd like to believe. I don't know how expensive it is to live in China but if the report is correct and that the workers are not allowed visitors and half of what they get paid goes back to the company, that environment is a sweatshop.

[Goes off, singing to himself, "I loaded sixteen tons and what do I get? Another day older and deeper in debt. Saint Peter don't call me cause I can't go I owe my soul to the company store."]

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:04 pm

I lived in China for two years, and I met many Chinese people, and people who work in factories. They have never complained about working conditions. They realize it is better than the alternative, which is laboring in a field, picking rice for $10 a month, and that's if they are lucky. Most people in China are subsistance farmers.

Before you write angry letters to your politicians demanding that workers in China be given the same work standards in the U.S., you should ask yourself, how much are YOU willing to pay for an iPod Nano/Shuffle in order to meet the increased costs? You want to place the blame on some body, you can place the blame on the U.S. labor pool for pricing itself out of the global market.

Oh, and BTW, if you can show me a place in the U.S. where I can pay $50 a month for food and housing, please let me know!

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Bosco said:

member since 03 Jun 2002 with 1002 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jun 13, 2006 2:09 am

I am much more concerned about whether the iPod is dual-use technology and whether the growth in unit sales could make China's military stronger. But fortunately, the limiting factor for military use is battery life. Imagine if iPods had batteries that could go for 30 days. Then at the current production growth rate, China could produce a billion or so iPods in 2012, give one to each of it's citizens along with a fur coat and a map, then march them all across the Behring Straight to kick our asses. The scenario scares me so much I can't sleep some nights.

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