More on Apple and Workers in China

Bloomberg’s picture isn’t pretty, but getting better I guess?

Apple Inc., which relies on Chinese manufacturers for its iPhones and iPod music players, found 45 of the 83 factories it audited last year didn’t pay proper overtime and 23 provided less than minimum wage, according to its 2009 progress report on supplier responsibility. The Cupertino, California-based company required them to adjust practices to ensure correct payments, it said in the report.

“The Cupertino, California-based company required them to adjust practices” sure doesn’t sound like “Apple told them to fix how they treat workers or get the fuck out”, does it?

Apple confirms death of iPhone worker in China

I was going to post this with the title “Tortured iPhone Worker Commits Suicide”, but then I realized I don’t work for TechCrunch. That seems to be what happened, though:

According to various Chinese media reports, the worker at Chinese manufacturer Foxconn committed suicide last week after a fourth-generation iPhone prototype for which he was responsible went missing.

Word is that the worker was then tortured by Foxconn security, which led him to snap and take a leap off the building. If this is true, Apple needs to step up and tell Foxconn to fuck off.

Update: Fake Steve says it’s fucked over there, and we all knew that already. He’s basically right.