Apple to be hurt by poor factory conditions?

An investigation into factories in China used by Apple has come up with some interesting facts and numbers about the quality of work that is going on across the sea. Some of these issues range from pay to hours to working conditions, and it appears as if more factories than one are affected. While many people see Apple as a company of high quality, this has left AppleInsider wondering whether this will affect that.

Here are some of the numbers:

• 45 of the 83 factories that built iPhones and iPods in 2008 weren’t paying valid overtime rates for those workers who qualified.
• 23 of these weren’t even paying some of their workers China’s minimum wage.
• 25 of the 83 also discriminated to some degree against people based on ethnicity, biological issues such as disabilities, or political leanings.
• 22 didn’t meet environmental standards.

As you can see, there are quite a few issues going on here. That said, Apple has stated that they audit their factories frequently and have tried to improve conditions for the workers at those areas. What do you think of this?

Via [AppleInsider]