Since We Called Out Apple, This Is Only Fair

Several months ago, we caused a small stir in one of our most popular (and hated) blog entries, when I urged Steve Jobs to go to China, and see the conditions in which Apple products are created.

Well Gizmodo has posted the results of a National Labor Committee survey of working conditions in one Chinese factory. NLC claims parts for HP, Dell, Lenovo and other PC manufacturers are made there. The results?

• Workers are prohibited from talking, listening to music, raising their heads, putting their hands in their pockets. Workers are fined for being one minute late, for not trimming their fingernails-which could impede the work, and for stepping on the grass. Workers are searched on the way in and out of the factory. Workers who hand out flyers or discuss factory conditions with outsiders are fired.
  The assembly line never stops, and workers needing to use the bathroom must learn to hold it until there is a break.
  All overtime is mandatory, with 12-hour shifts seven days a week and an average of two days off a month. A worker daring to take a Sunday off-which is supposedly their weekly holiday-will be docked 2 ½ days' wages. Including unpaid overtime, workers are at the factory up to 87 hours a week. On average, they are at the factory 81 hours a week, while toiling 74 hours, including 34 hours of overtime, which exceeds China's legal limit by 318 percent!
  The workers are paid a base wage of 64 cents an hour, which does not even come close to meeting subsistence level needs. After deductions for primitive room and board, the workers' take-home wage drops to just 41 cents an hour. A worker toiling 75 hours a week will earn a take-home wage of $57.19, or 76 cents an hour including overtime and bonuses. The workers are routinely cheated of 14 to 19 percent of the wages legally due them.

Gizmodo has a more extensive summary, and the NLC link will allow you to read the full report in all its glory. It's not the best bedtime story...