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More Than 2,000 Chinese Employees Riot At Foxconn iPhone Factory
About 2,000 Chinese employees of Foxconn Technology Group, which makes the Apple iPhone, reportedly rioted into the early hours of Monday, 24 September 2012, forcing the plant where they work to shut down.
This photo allegedly shows riot police responding to a riot by Foxconn employees in Taiyuan, China. Photo from Sina Webio
As many as 5,000 heavily armed police may have been involved in stopping the disturbance at the factory in the northern Chinese city of Taiyuan, according to published reports.
Thousands of Foxconn workers from many parts of China live in massive dormitory-style complexes.
Reports indicate that no workers were killed in the riot, but about 40 were taken to hospitals. A number of employees were reported to have been arrested.
The plant reportedly reopened Tuesday, 25 September 2012.
Foxconn Technology Group provided this statement to The Next Web:
Foxconn can confirm that a personal dispute between several employees escalated into an incident involving some 2,000 workers at approximately 11 pm last night in a privately-managed dormitory near our manufacturing facility in Taiyuan in Shanxi province.
The dispute was brought under control by local police at approximately 3 am this morning. According to police, some 40 individuals were taken to the hospital for medical attention and a number of individuals were arrested.
The cause of this dispute is under investigation by local authorities and we are working closely with them in this process, but it appears not to have been work-related.
The Taiyuan facility employs 79,000 people and manufactures automobile electronic components, consumer electronic components and precision moldings.
This photo allegedly shows a smashed guard booth at one of Foxconn’s dormitories.
The riot is the most recent incident in a string of troubles at the massive Foxconn facilities.
There have been a number of suicides among Foxconn workers. There have reports of poor and dangerous working conditions and forced labor at Foxconn facilities.
About 100 workers rioted at a Foxconn plant in Chengdu, in southwestern China, in June 2012.
Foxconn makes most of Apple’s products and also produce other electronic devices for other manufacturers.
No More iSlave
Foxconn claims it has been working to improve working conditions and to raise wages.
Bloggers following comments posted on a Chinese micro blogging website indicate the trouble may have been started by security guards at the domratory complex. Guards allegedly beat at least one employee and made comments about workers from a certain region in China.
Other reports said that workers from Shandong Province fought with workers from Henan.
“Clearly there is deep-seated frustration and anger among the employees and no outlet, apart from violence, for that frustration to be released,” Geoff Crothall, communication director at China Labour Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based workers’ rights group in, said in a statement.
“There is no dialogue and no means of resolving disputes, no matter how minor. So it is not surprising when such disputes escalate into violence.”
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