SKIRMISHER

It took a British tabloid last June to rake out the muck involving one of Apple’s suppliers — a certain Chinese factory in Longhua, China that manufactures some of those iPods we dearly love and enjoy. Turns out, Chinese teenagers and womenfolk assembling those nifty iPods slept in dorm rooms that crammed 100 bodies and were designed to make their occupants conveniently inhale one another’s breaths and did not have enough airspace for the occasional fart. The workers were also overworked and underpaid, which was severely affecting their appetite for bowls of noodles and clouding their otherwise sunny disposition.

A vegetarian and innovator and not really somebody who’s been frequently involved in social issues, Steve Jobs is nevertheless leader of a company that is socially involved and is partner with U2’s Bono, who is also socially involved. So the other day, Apple, two months after the “expose”, very quickly responded with a report on its website regarding the said disturbing story.

Short of declaring, “There are motherfucking snakes in the motherfucking factory” just to keep with the spirit of the times, Apple discovered that, yeah, while you can’t exactly call some of those employee dormitories as havens of the good life, they’re “acceptable” enough, and there’s nothing to worry about as those are being upgraded. As for the overtime issue, the company’s highly-paid, efficient auditors are breathing down Foxconn’s neck right as we speak to make sure all the kinks are ironed out.

Thanks, Steve. It’s nice to know that the iPod I have in my hand, like many other things in this modern world, was lovingly, carefully assembled by the carefree, happy, nameless somebody from some amazing place like Longhua, China.

via BUSINESS WEEK

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