Taiwanese iPod assembler Foxconn Electronics has threatened legal action over a report that Foxconn was making iPods for Apple Computer using women working under sweat shop conditions in China.

An article that appeared the UK newspaper, Mail on Sunday, last week described sweat shop factories being run in mainland China by Foxconn. According to article, young women from rural regions are being paid just $50 a month, which is half the usual rate, are housed in dormitories of up to 100 and have to pay half their wages in rent and board.

What's more, the article claims that the hapless workers are required to do 15-hour shifts working in "slave" conditions.The article showed pictures purportedly taken from inside one of the dormitories showing side by side beds with wash buckets in front of them.