Editing IPod (section)

=== Labor disputes ===
On June 11, 2006, the British tabloid ''[[The Mail on Sunday]]'' reported that iPods are mainly manufactured by workers who earn no more than US$50 per month and work 15-hour shifts.<ref>[https://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=14915 Inside Apple's iPod factories] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721035416/http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=14915 |date=July 21, 2011 }}, ''[[Macworld UK]]'', June 12, 2006. Retrieved on March 20, 2007.</ref> Apple investigated the case with independent auditors and found that, while some of the plant's labor practices met Apple's Code of Conduct, others did not: employees worked over 60 hours a week for 35% of the time and worked more than six consecutive days for 25% of the time.<ref>Millard, Elizabeth. [https://www.chinesetao.com/Newsfactor%20Sept%202006.pdf Is It Ethical To Own an iPod?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325042551/http://www.chinesetao.com/Newsfactor%20Sept%202006.pdf |date=March 25, 2021 }}. Retrieved on March 20, 2007.</ref>

[[Foxconn]], Apple's manufacturer, initially denied the abuses,<ref>[https://www.macnn.com/articles/06/06/19/ipod.sweatshop.claims/ Foxconn denies iPod 'sweatshop' claims] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205171343/http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/06/19/ipod.sweatshop.claims/ |date=December 5, 2020 }}, ''MacNN'', June 19, 2006. Retrieved on February 17, 2007.</ref> but when an auditing team from Apple found that workers had been working longer hours than were allowed under Chinese law, they promised to prevent workers working more hours than the code allowed. Apple hired a workplace standards auditing company, Verité, and joined the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct Implementation Group to oversee the measures. On December 31, 2006, workers at the Foxconn factory in Longhua, [[Shenzhen]] formed a union affiliated with the [[All-China Federation of Trade Unions]],<ref name="ihloorg030107">{{cite web|author=[[ITUC]] Hong Kong Liaison Office|date=January 2, 2007|title=ACFTU Union established at Foxconn on the very last day of 2006|url=https://www.ihlo.org/LRC/ACFTU/030107.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415004611/http://www.ihlo.org/LRC/ACFTU/030107.html|archive-date=April 15, 2013|access-date=February 2, 2010}}</ref> the Chinese government-approved union umbrella organization.<ref name="nyt20070405">[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/business/worldbusiness/05iht-labor.1.5156948.html McDonald's and KFC seeking to resolve Chinese minimum wage issue ...] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316102047/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/business/worldbusiness/05iht-labor.1.5156948.html |date=March 16, 2017 }}, April 5, 2007, nytimes.com. Retrieved 2010 5 27.</ref><ref name="guard2006811">[https://www.theguardian.com/business/2006/aug/11/china.supermarkets Wal-Mart backs down and allows Chinese workers to join union] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240728041727/https://www.theguardian.com/business/2006/aug/11/china.supermarkets |date=July 28, 2024 }}, August 11, 2006, Jonathan Watts, The Guardian</ref>

In 2010, a number of workers committed [[suicide]] at a Foxconn operations in China. Apple, HP, and others stated that they were investigating the situation. Foxconn guards have been videotaped beating employees. Another employee killed himself in 2009 when an Apple prototype went missing, and claimed in messages to friends, that he had been beaten and interrogated.<ref name="wsjDeaTsa20100527">[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704026204575267603576594936 Suicides Spark Inquiries Apple, H-P to Examine Asian Supplier After String of Deaths at Factory] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190919164601/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704026204575267603576594936 |date=September 19, 2019 }}, Jason Dean, Ting-i Tsai, May 27, 2010, accessed May 27, 2010</ref><ref name="wsjfoxsui">[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704269204575270031332376238 The Foxconn Suicides], May 28, 2010, wsj.com, WSJ opinion, accessed May 27, 2010</ref>

As of 2006, the iPod was produced by about 14,000 workers in the U.S. and 27,000 overseas. Further, the salaries attributed to this product were overwhelmingly distributed to highly skilled U.S. professionals, as opposed to lower-skilled U.S. retail employees or overseas manufacturing labor. One interpretation of this result is that U.S. innovation can create more jobs overseas than domestically.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://blogs.reuters.com/chrystia-freeland/2011/07/01/winners-and-losers-in-the-apple-economy/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110704103445/http://blogs.reuters.com/chrystia-freeland/2011/07/01/winners-and-losers-in-the-apple-economy/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 4, 2011 |title=Winners and Losers in the Apple Economy |last=Freeland|first=Chrystia|publisher=Blogs.reuters.com |date= July 1, 2011|access-date=August 15, 2011}}</ref>