iPod-related headache is blinding Apple Computer Inc. this week, following a report by a British newspaper on horrible working conditions at Chinese factories where the popular MP3 player is built.

The Mail on Sunday reported that a Chinese factory that manufactures iPods employs 200,000 workers who live in tiny cubicles where visitors are not permitted.

Young women who work at the iPod factory have 15-hour working days, according to the article, and in "slave conditions."

They were said to have been earning $50 a month (or about $1.60 a day) which is minuscule compared to the price of iPod - not even enough to subscribe to iTunes.

Women at iPod factories also have to pay for the room which belongs to the factory and board which accounts for half the amount. This way, they earn as little as $25 per month.

"Apple suppliers must uphold the human rights of workers, to treat them with dignity and respect as understood by the international community," reads a passage near the beginning of the document, quoted by Washington Post.

The working conditions, as described in the British newspaper article, aren't unusual, said Karin Mak, a project coordinator at a nonprofit watchdog organization called Sweatshop Watch.

 

Apple has often celebrated its anti-corporate image, with its "Think different" marketing slogan and its use of figures such as John Lennon and Gandhi for ad campaigns.

Apple said it is "investigating the allegations regarding working conditions in the iPod manufacturing plant in China."

However, the fact remains that Apple, like other global giants, hire contract manufacturers to handle production for them.

Ultimately, the workers on the production line suffer the most, as sweatshops mean cost cutting and higher profits. 

 Other news