IPod maker placates critics with worker deal

Staff at iPod maker Foxconn are stacked three high in bunk beds at 100 to a room

Workers at Foxconn, which makes Apple's iPod media players, may be given new housing by the end of this year, following claims of "unacceptable"  living and working conditions. 

Staff are currently stacked three high in bunk beds at 100 to a room, according to press reports on company dormitories and Apple's own auditors.

Taiwan-based Foxconn has paid $54m for land in Southern China where it is building improved staff accommodation, newspapers in Taiwan and China reported today.

The site is near to facilities where a Foxconn subsidiary makes the iPod, as well as products for other companies, such as Sony and HP.

Following press reports alleging poor working conditions on the iPod production line, Apple investigated the factories in Shenzhen, which are run by Foxconn's wholly-owned subsidiary, Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry.

"We were not satisfied with the living conditions of three of the off-site leased dorms that we visited," Apple's auditors wrote.

"These buildings were converted by the supplier during a period of rapid growth and have served as interim housing.

"Two of the dormitories, originally built as factories, now contain a large number of beds and lockers in an open space and, from our perspective, felt too impersonal.

"The third contained triple-bunks, which in our opinion did not provide reasonable personal space."

A production line manager told the Daily Mirror earlier this year: "The dorms are really overcrowded. There are too many people for comfort, but they are free. They are single-sex, with more than 100 people in a single large room." 

However, the Apple auditors pointed out that, although Foxconn workers are not required to live in the company dormitories, the majority do.