Report: Riots break out at Foxconn factory in China
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Reports early Monday from China suggest that a mass disturbance or riots may have broken out at a Foxconn factory in the Chinese city of Taiyuan.
It is still unclear what exactly happened, but posts on China’s popular twitter-like service, Weibo, from users in the area show photographs and video of large numbers of police in and around the factory – many in riot gear – blocking off throngs of people.
Other photos show debris strewn around the Foxconn compound and in one case, an overturned guard tower.
According to popular tech blog engadget, the disturbance kicked off after Foxconn security guards allegedly hit a worker around 10 p.m. on Sunday.
Censors in China have reportedly already started deleting pictures from the scene.
This is not the first time that Foxconn has had problems with its Taiyuan facility, which is reportedly responsible for the fabrication of the back plate of the immensely popular new iPhone 5. In March, strikes broke out there after workers did not receive a pay raise they had reportedly been promised.
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Meanwhile, Foxconn’s Chengdu plant in Sichuan province also has dealt with riots. In June, scores of Foxconn workers there got into a fight with a local restaurant owner that had to be broken up by police.
Foxconn is the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer responsible for much of the current production and assembly of Apple’s popular line of products as well as a wide variety of popular tech toys ranging from laptops to gaming consoles.
But Foxconn has been under fire for years for its tough working conditions, including long hours, low wages and strict rules on representation. The company has also dealt with a string of suicides at its plants across China, which led to the company in 2010 installing anti-jump nets to prevent more suicide attempts.
The company has taken steps to improve working conditions in its factories by reducing work hours and raising wages for its front-line workers.
Still, perhaps wary of the continued negative publicity that has plagued one of its primary manufacturers over the years, Apple recently took steps to diversify its portfolio of producers, recently awarding much of the manufacturing of its new iteration of the iPad to another Taiwanese company, Pegatron.
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By PAUL MOZUR
A riot at a Foxconn plant in northern China was brought under control, but the plant remained closed Monday. The WSJ's Paul Mozur explains what the incident says about the growing unrest among China's laborers.
BEIJING—A fight at a northern Chinese factory campus owned by major Apple Inc. supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. escalated into larger-scale unrest early Monday, according to the company and local police.
Enlarge Image
Workers clean up glass shards from the broken windows of a security room near an entrance of a Foxconn Tech-Industry Park in Taiyuan, Shanxi province on Monday.
A spokesman for Hon Hai's Foxconn Technology Group arm said the situation was "under control," but added that the plant would be shut for Monday. "Our decision is to take a day off for that particular plant today," said the spokesman, Louis Woo.
An investigation into the cause of the riots, which left 10 injured, is being carried out, according to a report from China's state-run Xinhua news agency. A local Public Security Bureau officer confirmed that there were "problems" at the plant overnight and that the police were dealing with the situation.
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Mr. Woo wouldn't say how many people were involved, but workers at the plant contacted over the Internet estimated several hundred to several thousand employees were involved.
The plant, located in Taiyuan in China's Shanxi province, employs 79,000 workers, Mr. Woo said. It produces electronic components for automobiles and consumer electronic components as well as moldings. It wasn't immediately clear which customers' products are made at the plant.
Hon Hai is a major contractor for Apple and other electronics companies. The plant is one of more than 20 manufacturing facilities around China.
Hon Hai has been under a microscope by labor groups for its work practices. The company has defended its conduct, but earlier this year it agreed to change its labor practices after an outside audit of its Chinese factories found widespread breaches of work rules, including 60-hour workweeks and other health and safety violations.
Apple declined to comment and referred questions to Foxconn.
Mr. Woo said a fight between two different work groups in a dormitory eventually spread into greater unrest at the factory. He wouldn't elaborate on the amount of damage at the plant, but photos spreading around Chinese microblogs Monday morning showed smashed store windows, an overturned car and riot police.
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A Foxconn building in China.
A worker at the factory contacted directly through Sina Corp.'s Weibo microblogging service said the main violence broke out at the southern gate of the campus, where motorcycles were burned and store windows were smashed around midnight. By 1 a.m. he said, paramilitary and other special police forces had arrived.
—Yang Jie in Shanghai and
Ian Sherr in San Francisco contributed to this article.
Write to Paul Mozur at paul.mozur@dowjones.com
A spokesman for Hon Hai's Foxconn Technology Group arm said the situation was "under control," but added that the plant would be shut for Monday. "Our decision is to take a day off for that particular plant today," said the spokesman, Louis Woo.
An investigation into the cause of the riots, which left 10 injured, is being carried out, according to a report from China's state-run Xinhua news agency. A local Public Security Bureau officer confirmed that there were Mr. Woo wouldn't say how many people were involved, but workers at the plant contacted over the Internet estimated several hundred to several thousand employees were involved.
The plant, located in Taiyuan in China's Shanxi province, employs 79,000 workers, Mr. Woo said. It produces electronic components for automobiles and consumer electronic components as well as moldings. It wasn't immediately clear which customers' products are made at the plant.
Hon Hai is a major contractor for Apple and other electronics companies. The plant is one of more than 20 manufacturing facilities around China.
Hon Hai has been under a microscope by labor groups for its work practices. The company has defended its conduct, but earlier this year it agreed to change its labor practices after an outside audit of its Chinese factories found widespread breaches of work rules, including 60-hour workweeks and other health and safety violations.
Apple declined to comment and referred questions to Foxconn.
Mr. Woo said a fight between two different work groups in a dormitory eventually spread into greater unrest at the factory. He wouldn't elaborate on the amount of damage at the plant, but photos spreading around Chinese microblogs Monday morning showed smashed store windows, an overturned car and riot police.
Enlarge Image
A Foxconn building in China.
A worker at the factory contacted directly through Sina Corp.'s Weibo microblogging service said the main violence broke out at the southern gate of the campus, where motorcycles were burned and store windows were smashed around midnight. By 1 a.m. he said, paramilitary and other special police forces had arrived.
—Yang Jie in Shanghai and
Ian Sherr in San Francisco contributed to this article.
Write to Paul Mozur at paul.mozur@dowjones.com
A version of this article appeared September 24, 2012, on page B4 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Apple Supplier Reports Unrest.