foxconn

Foxconn riot spurs pledge on overtime pay

The riot at a Foxconn facility appears to have been related to overtime pay, a report says, but the incident shouldn't impact iPhone 5 shipments.

Foxconn, which builds Apple products, shut down a Chinese facility earlier this week after rioting broke out among workers. The company in a statement today said it will "ensure its duties relating to employee welfare are implemented and it will make overtime payments as promised," according to a Digitimes report.

The company also said the riot shouldn't affect shipments for "the latest smartphone product" as the facility doesn't … Read more

'No more iSlave:' An activist fights for iPhone workers

HONG KONG -- Debby Chan may not have the answer to the terribly complex issues facing workers at the giant Chinese contract manufacturing plants where iPhones are assembled.

But she has plenty of questions.

Chan's modest office here, shared with another human rights activist, is cluttered with books and papers. Posters hang from the walls, questioning the legitimacy of Burma's 2010 elections. There's another of an iPhone with a graphic on the screen, a worker carrying the Apple logo on his back with blood flowing from his mouth, under the words "No more iSlave."

And … Read more

Riots, suicides, and other issues in Foxconn's iPhone factories

ZHENGZHAO, Henan province, China -- If you want to understand why iPhones are made in this corner of the world, look no further than Li Yue.

When I met the effervescent 21-year-old, she was lined up at a kiosk outside the gates of the massive assembly plant owned by Foxconn. Li, wearing a white T-shirt and blue jean shorts and carrying a pink parasol to beat the heat on a scorcher of a June day, was among a group of a dozen or so candidates applying for a job with the Taiwanese firm. Not a specific job, mind you. Any … Read more

Foxconn factory resumes production after huge riot

Production has resumed at a Foxconn factory in northern China after a riot involving thousands of employees forced the factory to close.

A Foxconn representative told Reuters that production resumed Tuesday and that the one-day suspension of production would have no affect on supply to clients.

"We have 79,000 people working in Taiyuan campus, and we always have spare inventory," said Foxconn spokesman Louis Woo.

Foxconn, which builds many Apple products, was forced to shut down its Taiyuan factory early Monday after an hours-long riot involving roughly 2,000 employees broke out at 11 p.m. local … Read more

Finding flaws in the iPhone 5

Monday's CNET Update is a bit scratchy:

Apple sold more than 5 million iPhone 5 units as of the first weekend. That's a million more than the launch of the iPhone 4S. But looks like Apple could have sold many more if there was enough supply. Several retail stores in major cities had only 8 or 10, according to reports, and didn't get enough to fulfill preorders.

When you have millions of people around the world racing to be the first to have one, there are high standards. So there's been quite a bit of press … Read more

Apple supplier Foxconn: Production will resume tomorrow

Foxconn, which builds many Apple products, told CNET that while it had shut down its Taiyuan factory due to a riot on early Monday, the facility would resume production tomorrow.

The company also said in a statement e-mailed to CNET that there had been no deaths related to the incident.

Foxconn was forced to shut down the northern China factory after a riot broke out at 11 p.m. local time, possibly sparked when a guard struck a worker, and didn't get under control until 3 a.m. The riot involved roughly 2,000 workers out of a total … Read more

Foxconn confirms worker riot at Taiyuan factory

Foxconn, a contract manufacturer to Apple, closed a northern China factory for the day following an early Monday riot that, according to the company, began as a fight between workers. Details remain scarce.

The company said several people were injured and sent to the hospital after the incident, and that some were also detained by police. The factory in question employees about 79,000 workers.

Other reports, however, described a riot possibly involving as many as 2,000 people and, by one account, potentially sparked when a guard struck a worker. Photos posted by a user on the Chinese Internet … Read more

Apple union's 'Day of Solidarity' to protest working conditions

Apple stores selling the iPhone 5 today may see more than just customers outside their doors.

The Apple Workers Union wants store staffers to protest in front of Apple stores today to show solidarity for employees in France and at China's Foxconn plant. The union's "Day of Solidarity" is aimed at stores in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, France, Germany, China, and Japan -- the same countries offering the iPhone 5 starting today.

Calling on workers to "demand a better Apple," the union is backing Apple Store employees in France who … Read more

Watchdog group once again blasts Foxconn, Apple over labor

Workers putting together Apple's latest iPhone in one of Foxconn's plants in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China still face "deplorably harsh working conditions" according to a new report published today.

The 10-page report entitled "New iPhone, old abuses," by the Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), claims that workers at Foxconn's Zhengzhou facility are still being forced to work overtime and experiencing numerous working violations.

The report, like others the group has put out in the past, is based on offsite interviews with workers at Foxconn factories. This time it's 60 workers … Read more