A Chinese factory, which manufactures Apple Computer Inc.'s popular music player iPod, employs 200,000 workers who live in dormitories prohibiting visitors and are required to work 15 hours a day earning only £27 or US$50 a month, according to a report published in British newspaper Mail on Sunday on 11 June.

The report said the workers, mainly women, are employed by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, also known by the brand Foxconn Electronics Inc, in a supplier factory in Longhua, Guangdong Province, producing iPod players for Apple. The report said the iPods are made in a five-storey factory that is secured by police officers.

After the report was published, Apple Computer Inc. issued a statement on 14 June saying it is "currently investigating the allegations regarding working conditions in the iPod manufacturing plant in China."

"Apple is committed to ensuring that working conditions in our supply chain are safe, that workers are treated with respect and dignity, and the manufacturing processes are environmentally responsible," the company statement said.

The Mail on Sunday report also said workers of another factory in Suzhou in Jiangsu Province in eastern China, which produces iPods, are housed outside the plant and each earn £54 per month. But they had to pay for their accommodation and food, "which takes up half their salaries." A security guard told the newspaper's reporters that the production lines there employ women workers because "they are more honest than male workers".

Sources: Mail On Sunday (11 June 2006), Macworld UK (12 June 2006), BBC (14 June 2006), Washington Post (16 June 2006)

16 June 2006