“iPod City” in China: Factory or prison?

I usually prefer to link directly to a news story I want to tell you about, but that isn’t possible in this case; the Mail on Sunday’s report isn’t available online.

But Macworld in the UK wrote a summary of the story, so that’s the best I can do for now.

The Mail got to visit the factories where iPods are made, and it’s obvious why we can’t compete with China when it comes to manufacturing: We tend not to treat our workers as prisoners.

Writing about the 200,000-worker Longhua plant, which it nicknamed “iPod City,” Macworld said:

The report claims Longhua’s workers live in dormitories that house 100 people, and that visitors from the outside world are not permitted. Workers toil for 15-hours a day to make the iconic music player, the report claims. They earn £27 per month. The report reveals that the iPod nano is made in a five-storey factory (E3) that is secured by police officers.

Another factory in Suzhou, Shanghai, makes iPod shuffles. The workers are housed outside the plant, and earn £54 per month - but they must pay for their accommodation and food, “which takes up half their salaries”, the report observes.

If more stories like this got out — if people realized the conditions under which all their stuff is made, from iPods to toys to (looking around my desk) telephones, clocks, picture frames, and hundreds of other things — maybe they’d think twice before buying them.

Oh, who am I kidding? It’s cheap, so it sells — sells to the same people who bemoan the loss of America’s downtowns and any semblance of regional individualism, all while driving to Wal-Mart.