Foxconn Technology Group, a Chinese manufacturer of Apple's (AAPL) iPhones resumed production Tuesday after a brawl by workers highlighted tensions that labor groups say were worsened by the pressure of a new iPhone launch.
Foxconn Technology Group and police said the cause of the unrest Sunday night was under investigation, but labor activists said the rollout of the iPhone 5 has led to longer working hours and more pressure on workers. Foxconn and police said as many as 2,000 employees were involved in the brawl and 40 people were reported injured.
Foxconn plant workers like these are often forced to stand for 14 hours straight (Click Image To Enlarge)
The iPhone 5 debuted last week in the United States and eight other countries and Apple has a three- to four-week backlog of online orders. Foxconn has declined to say whether its one-day suspension of production Monday in Taiyuan might affect supplies. It did not respond to a request for comment on the labor groups' claims.
News reports and witnesses said the violence Sunday night in Taiyuan in northern China stemmed from a confrontation between a factory worker and a guard that escalated. One employee reached by telephone said the violence was fueled by workers' anger about mistreatment by Foxconn security guards and managers.
A Foxconn employee who asked not to be identified said.
"Foxconn, some supervisors, and security guards never respect us. We all have this anger toward them and they (the workers) wanted to destroy things to release this anger."
Production at the Taiyuan factory resumed on Tuesday, Foxconn said in a written statement. It did not respond to a request for information on the status of its investigation or whether policies at the factory might be changed.
Foxconn, owned by Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., is the world's biggest assembler of consumer electronics, with about 1.2 million workers in factories in Taiyuan, the southern city of Shenzhen, in Chengdu in the west and in Zhengzhou in central China. It makes iPhones and iPads for Apple and also assembles products for Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ).
Labor activists say the need to ramp up iPhone 5 production has increased pressure on Foxconn employees.
In 2010, Foxconn's parent, Hon Hai, pledged its guards would obey the law and refrain from using threats or harassment after a videotape showing several beating workers was circulated on the Internet.
Foxconn employees have complained about what some critics call "military-style management."
Crothall said.
"Workers are expected to obey their manager at all times, not to question but simply do what they are told. That atmosphere is not conducive to a happy or contented workforce. It's very dehumanizing way of treating workers."
A Hong Kong group, Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour, in a report this month said.
"Because of the launch of the iPhone 5, the workload of workers suddenly surges."
It said some employees interviewed at the Zhengzhou factory had not had a day off in the previous 30 days.
Foxconn has declined to say which products are made in each factory but another group, China Labor Watch, said the Taiyuan facility, which employs 79,000 people, is making the iPhone 5.
The group, based in New York City, complained that employees suffer "verbal and physical abuse" by guards.
It said in a statement.
"These workers must be treated with respect. And both Apple and Foxconn, with billions of dollars in profits every year, have both a legal and ethical obligation to uphold the rights of these workers."
Labor tensions in China have been aggravated by a slowing economy that is squeezing employers and a communist system that prohibits independent labor unions.
Many factories and other businesses have unions but they must be part of the state-sanctioned All-China Federation of Trade Unions. Workers complain leaders of local branches often are allied with management and fail to stand up for the workforce.
That means grievances over pay or other issues spiral into strikes and protests. In some cases, ACFTU representatives have scuffled with striking workers, trying to force them to return to work.
Geoffrey Crothall, communications director for China Labour Bulletin, a Hong Kong organization that promotes employee rights in China said.
"They have no other way of voicing their grievances. There are no formal channels of communication or ways of resolving grievances through peaceful negotiation."
Foxconn raised minimum pay and promised in March to limit hours after an auditor hired by Apple found Foxconn employees were regularly required to work more than 60 hours a week.
That review followed a rash of suicides at Foxconn facilities -- about a dozen since 2010 -- and an explosion at the iPad-making plant in Chengdu in May 2011 that killed four employees.
Foxconn's facilities are exceptionally large by the standards of a Chinese electronics industry in which most manufacturers employ hundreds or thousands of workers. Its flagship mainland factory in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, has 250,000 workers. The Chengdu site has 100,000 and the company has said the Zhengzhou factory might eventually employ 300,000.
Foxconn also has faced criticism in the past over the conduct of its security guards.
COMMENTARY: If 2,000 people brawled against the management in a U.S. factory, the National Guard would be called out, labor rights advocates would be filing class action lawsuits against management, and there would be organized efforts to unionize the workers. However, unions are banned in China, and there are no laws protecting workers rights like those we here in the U.S. When I heard about the brawl at Foxconn's plant, I said to myself, "Here we go again." Well, it looks like conditions at Foxconn really haven't changed much, but gotten worst. I would call the brawl at Foxconn an outright uprising. Whether Foxconn management will implement changes to improve plant worker conditions at its plants remains to be seen. Earlier this year Foxconn announced that it was reducing worker hours after complaints by plant workers of excessive overtime, often without breaks.
I wonder what Apple CEO Tim Cook will have to say about the latest brawl at Foxconn. Truth be told, Tim Cook was specifically hired by the late Steve Jobs when he was rehired back in 1996 to eliminate waste and improve profit margins across the board. Tim Cook's answer was to shutdown Apple's company-owned U.S. plants, reduce product lines and outsource all manufacturing overseas. To his credit, Tim Cook has done a fantastic job. Apple's magical devices are revered throughout the world by Apple evangelists and they are leaders in their respective product categories.
Hon Hai Precision Industry's profit margins now average 1.5% while Apple's average 30.8% since the iPhone debut in 2008 (Click Image To Enlarge)
For years Apple would not disclose the identity of Apple's overseas vendors, the working conditions at those overseas plants, and just how much environmental pollution those plants were creating. Well, the shit hit the fan in 2010, when reports of plant worker suicides, accusations of sweatshop conditions at those plants and widespread environmental pollution were reported by the press.
Of all of the Steve Jobs interviews, and believe me, there are not many videos of the King of Magical Devices being interviewed and put under the hot seat. Steve Jobs would never subject himself to that, or admit any wrong doing. However, Steve agreed to be interviewed by All Things Digital at the D8 Conference in 2010, about accusations of horrible sweatshop working conditions, unsafe working conditions, and 13 plant worker suicides at Foxconn International's plant in China, the company that manufacturer's Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod.
Here's the video and watch and listen to what Steve had to say. Please, no more hateful mail or nasty comments.
Don't get me wrong. I love Apple products, I think they are beautifully designed and engineered products that people "absolutely lust for." Steve Jobs was without any doubt the greatest entrepreneur and technology innovator of the modern era even though he did get some help from alien technology along the way.
This infographic pretty much lays it all out for you to see.
Click Image To Enlarge
Click Image To Enlarge
The body of evidence that Apple's overseas vendors operate sweatshops, treat their plant workers like slaves and polluting the environment on a monumental scale is overwhelming and can no longer be disuputed. In spite of rampedup plant inspections by Apple and claims of improved working conditions, it appears that nothing has really changed. This overwhelming evidence should give Apple evangelists pause for concern and swear not to buy another Apple product ever again. Join me in this crusade. Swear by these words: "I will never buy another Apple product again."
If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to read my other blog posts about Foxconn here: August 14, 2012, April 2, 2012, March 29, 2012, March 30, 2012, March 3, 2012, January 31, 2012, October 12, 2011,
Courtesy of an article dated September 25, 2012 appearing in the MercuryNews.com
The labor conditions are poor. But there are many good things that Apple brings to the communities where these factories exist. Jobs for one. And paying US wages in a country that doesn't have a mean income near the US mean income could cause extreme unrest within the community. They could always sell gold to make a few extra bucks!
Posted by: VGM Dalas | 11/20/2012 at 12:45 PM
There is no denying the fact that labor conditions are extremely poor. Something has to be done to make it more fair for these employees.
Posted by: JacksonWhite Law | 10/26/2012 at 10:40 AM