Foxconn workers strike over iPhone 5 working conditions

Thousands of workers at a Foxconn factory went on strike this weekend to protest over working conditions on the iPhone 5 production lines. The report comes from an independent workers rights organisation. New York based China Labor Watch works closely with sources in China.

The Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, China were furious after management enacted ‘overly strict demands' for the production of Apple's new iPhone 5. The strike on Friday lasted for several hours and was said to ‘paralyse the production lines'.

Workers and inspectors were said to clash, sometimes causing physical fights, according to the CLW. Some were sent to hospital for treatment.

CNN.com add “China's state-run news agency Xinhua also reported on the disturbance. More than 100 quality inspectors refused to go to work Friday “after one of the inspectors was allegedly assaulted by the workers, who have been dissatisfied with the new inspection standards,” Xinhua said, citing an unnamed regional government spokesman in Zhengzhou.”

There are mixed reports on the amount of time that the strike halted production of the iPhone 5. Workers on the scene said that it was a longer outage than reported, claiming the shutdown lasted from mid day Friday until Saturday.

Foxconn were quick to issue a statement, and said “Any reports that there has been an employee strike are inaccurate, There has been no workplace stoppage in that facility or any other Foxconn facility and production has continued on schedule.”

The continued “These were isolated incidents and were immediately addressed and measures taken, including providing additional staff for the lines in question. This is consistent with our efforts to work with our employees to continuously enhance any aspects of our production that can improve the workplace and manufacturing practices.”

This factory employs around 190,000 people and Apple will not be happy to read this news over the weekend, they are facing negative press already over the Maps disaster, and now the iPhone 5 camera is said to have a fault, which Apple deny is specific to their design.

Kitguru says: The iPhone 5 problems continue.

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