Fresh labor disputes hit Apple manufacturer Foxconn

When 150 workers at Foxconn climbed to the roof of one of its factories in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in a labor dispute earlier this month, it was a chilling reminder of the suicide series that shook the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer less than two years ago.

There were no suicides in Wuhan on January 3, and workers who were present that day said no one was actually threatening to jump. But the drastic protest reflects new labor woes plaguing the company which makes the lion’s share of the world’s iPhones, iPads and other electronic gadgets.

Analysts say Foxconn’s move to transfer mass production of many gadgets from one mega-plant in Shenzhen, the export manufacturing hub next to Hong Kong, to new large plants in inland provinces has created a more complex wage structure and bottlenecks that trigger disputes.

“It seems the very changes they made to address some labor issues have spawned new problems with workers,” said a consultant who inspects contract manufacturing factories for consumer electronics brands.

Foxconn declined to comment on the employment issues at the company.

More than a dozen workers had jumped to their deaths in Foxconn factories in 2010, sending it scrambling to adjust the way the Taiwanese company manages production in its Chinese plants, which employ more than 1m workers.

That year, Foxconn raised wages sharply twice in its plants in Shenzhen, the export manufacturing hub next to Hong Kong where most suicides had taken place. The second raise applies only to staff who had successfully completed a trNike React Element