According to a report by China Labor Watch, Foxconn production has halted at the Zhengzhou factory. These workers are liable for the assembly of Apple’s latest handset, the iPhone 5. With recent reports of iPhone 5 supply shortages; this will only have a negative effect on estimated shipment dates for future units.
Apple has demanded employees work longer hours and provide greater output. Quality control standards have even increased, and reportedly employees never received correct training:
Quality control inspectors fell into to conflicts with workers and were beat up multiple times by workers. Factory management turned a deaf ear to complaints about these conflicts and took no corrective measures. The result of both of these circumstances was a widespread work stoppage on the factory floor among workers and inspectors.
According to workers, there was a fight between workers and quality control inspectors in area K that led to the damage in inspection room CA, the injury of some people, and the hospitalization of others. After this, another similar incident occurred in area K, once again leading to quality control inspectors getting beat up
The strike involves three to four thousand production workers who typically would be working on the line producing the iPhone 5. Along with being angered over the increased control quality standards, these workers are being forced to work during the holiday.
The report notes that quality standards have increased in attempt to address the scratches present on many black iPhone 5 models.
This wasn’t the first time Foxconn employees have halted iPhone 5 production; a few weeks ago a riot at the Taiyuan plant stopped production for nearly a day. It turned out the 2000 employee brawl was over overtime pay.
[via Gizmodo]
