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Judging The Apple 'Sweatshop' Charge
jurgen writes "MacWorld summarizes an article published in the U.K., stating that Apple's iPods are made in China by women who work 15 hours/day, make $50/month, and have to pay half of that right back to the company for housing and food. The article also claims the workers live in dormitories where they are housed 100 per room, and are not allowed visitors." A Wired article looks at the same story, exploring the reliability of the Mail on Sunday's claims. From that article: "The situation is too murky for a rush to judgment on Apple's ethics here, and it may well meet minimum global standards. But for a company that has staked its image on progressive politics, Apple has set itself up as a potential lightning rod on global labor standards. Sweatshops came back to bite Nike after its customers rose up in arms; and Apple can expect a similar grilling from its upscale Volvo-driving fans in the months ahead."
Pay only $25/month for rent and food! Wow...sure, no visitors, 100 per room, but it'll be like being in college all over again.
They can only afford to pay market labor rates, so that they can keep their prices so low and pass the savings on to you!
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
This is all meaningless hyperbole. For example, who can consider working on Apple products "work"? Instead it is like Christmas play time every day. When you work on an Apple product, you are like an elf in Santa's north pole! Sure you only get 50 bucks a month, but you can go visit the marmalade forest and make bubblegum pie whenever you want!
And furthermore, you get good karma which ensures that you will go to heaven and receive 72 virgin powerbooks with infinite Altivec and a double dual core. We should be envious of these lucky women. They are an inspiration to us all.
I submitted this story last night, and it didn't get posted.
Don't forget "latte-drinking"
iPods are made in China by women who work 15 hours/day, make $50/month, and have to pay half of that right back to the company for housing and food.
I don't know about you, but I sure wish that my living expenses were $25 a month. Heck, I wish they were only half of my income!
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
I though all of us Mac users drove the New Bug because it matched our iPods so well.
I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah"
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
Wow! Who would have thought people on Slashdot would be giving Apple a rimjob over this. I totally did not see this coming!
Give me good ratings or I will close down the internet.
superdan2k pays damned sizable portion of income for rent and food by dr_dank - status rejected
Sorry man, I tried.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
- "I'm finally in a situation where food and shelter isn't taking the vast majority of my wages, and I'm breathing a lot easier because of it."
You must not be married... I was "finally in a situation where food and shelter isn't taking the vast majority of my wages", but the wife fixed that by moving from the suburbs to a nice big house in a nice area, new car, and now I'm back in a situation where shelter is taking the vast majority of my wages.
p.s. please don't mod this Funny, because it's not.
"These are the first iPods made by kids for kids! And we pass the *wink* slavings on to you!"
* With purchase of second Tibet of equal or greater value
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Let's start a movement to publicize this horrible practice. Instead of "Free Tibet!" our slogan can be "Free Ipod!"
how many pairs of boxer shorts should you own?
Only on Slashdot could working conditions in communist China be blamed on free markets and not cause an implosion of irony, causing a paradoxical singularity to form inside the web server, thereby swallowing up the entire internet.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Shut up and get back to the work pit!