Worry over working conditions for iPad makers

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With the recent release of the iPad and the launch of the newest iPhone, Apple stores have been bustling with tech-crazed energy. But a more somber crowd will  gather at Apple’s flagship store near Union Square in San Francisco tonight, organized by the Chinese Progressive Association. At issue: the working conditions for those who make those very crowd-drawing items.

Foxconn, a Taiwanese company in Shenzen China, manufactures the iPad and iPod and is known for producing high-quality technology at very low prices. And its winning formula is based on brutal work conditions, according to the Chinese Progressive Association. Those conditions, they argue, have led to 13 suicide attempts and 10 worker deaths. Another worker is reported to have died from exhaustion after working a 34 hour shift. According to various news reports, workers are forbidden from talking on the assembly line, or even during their short breaks, and often work 70 hour shifts to keep up with the explosive demand for the iPad and iPhone.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who earlier described Foxconn as distinctly not a sweatshop, says he finds the suicides “very troubling,” and  that Apple is “all over this,” in trying to understand the workers' situation. Since the suicides and working conditions have come to international attention, Foxconn has raised its Shenzen workers’ wages and placed safety nets outside its factory windows. However, unconfirmed reports say that Foxconn now plans to close its Shenzen factory and move its operations to Vietnam, Taiwan and India.