Foxconn denies report of strike at iPhone plant

Foxconn, the Taiwanese made-to-order electronics giant that assembles Apple Inc’s products, denied reports that a plant in China was crippled by a strike, saying today that its production is on schedule at an important time for Apple.

The report of a strike issued by China Labor Watch, a New York-based advocacy group, came weeks after Apple kicked off its largest-ever global rollout for the new iPhone 5 smartphone. Apple is already struggling with tight availability of the phones in stores, analysts say.

The labour group said 3,000 to 4,000 workers went on strike at Foxconn's Zhengzhou complex in central China yesterday, angered by over-exacting quality controls as well as demands they work through the week-long National Day holiday, which began on Monday.

But Foxconn Technology Group, which has its headquarters in Taiwan, denied the report and said the plant suffered only two brief and small disputes several days earlier.

“Any reports that there has been an employee strike are inaccurate,” the company said in an emailed statement, adding that “there has been no workplace stoppage in that facility or any other Foxconn facility and production has continued on schedule”. Foxconn said the quarrels happened on October 1-2, and were “immediately addressed and measures taken, including providing additional staff for the lines in question.”

Foxconn also said employees who worked over China's National Day break did so voluntarily and were paid three times their usual hourly compensation, as demanded by law. But China’s official Xinhua news agency quoted a government spokesman in Zhengzhou as saying 100 quality inspectors at Foxconn refused to work for an hour on Friday after one was allegedly beaten by workers irate over the inspection demands.