Hasta La Gadget!

The underpaid, overworked Chinese workers of Foxconn have had enough, according to a new report by China Labor Watch: thousands have gone on strike over immense iPhone manufacturing pressure and fistfights with their bosses. More »

Much of the business news out of Japan from Sharp hasn’t been good, but for now at least it’s worked out a loan agreement to keep rolling. It’s still pursuing a deal with manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry / Foxconn that would provide a much-needed injection of capital, but those talks have reportedly stalled. Until something happens there it has a 360 billion yen ($4.6 billion) syndicated loan worked out with a couple of Japanese banks that runs until June 30th 2013. We’re still not sure how Sharp will proceed with all this, but hopefully an agreement can be reached that brings its sweet IGZO LCD tech and any other new screens it will be showing off at CEATEC next week to more devices.

Filed under: Displays, HD, Mobile

Sharp takes out $4.6 billion loan while it continues restructuring originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 01:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The riot that caused one of Foxconn’s factories to close down on Monday was definitely big news, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected. We’re heard for years that working conditions at Foxconn aren’t exactly the best, with labor groups frequently bringing the company to the public’s attention. Those who have Foxconn assemble their products have performed numerous investigations into the working conditions at the factory, and it isn’t uncommon to see anonymous Foxconn workers discussing the more negative parts of their jobs on various news sites.

Foxconn officials may have been able to get things under control relatively quickly, but today labor experts are warning that riots like this could happen again. The Washington Post has interviewed a number of these experts, with some pointing to increased pressure on workers as one of the major reasons for the riot on Monday. Why is there increased pressure on workers? Because the pool of uneducated workers in China is shrinking, meaning that there are fewer people for Foxconn and other companies like it to potentially hire.

Of course, we also need to take the time of the year into account – the iPhone 5 launched to massive consumer demand last week, and with Windows Phone 8 and the holiday shopping season both on the horizon, many other companies will soon be rushing to get their latest handsets on shelves. The Washington Post points out that these jobs rarely require anything other than an employee who is fast and accurate at all times, and these days, management is having a difficult time keeping the intensity of the job under control. “The companies haven’t figured out how to manage that intensity,” said University of Michigan China labor expert Mary Gallagher. “It’s intense because of the precision required. It’s intense because of how quickly technology changes and newer models are demanded. And while the number of workers is shrinking, you have the pressures on them mounting.”

Wang Zhiqian, a former line worker-turned-recruiter for the company, sees it a different way. According to him, it isn’t so much the lack of workers (and therefore an increase in pressure on existing employees) that is the problem, but rather the main issue is that factories like Foxconn aren’t good companies to work for in the first place. Zhiqian says that management is “a mess,” work days are often long, workers aren’t allowed to talk to one another, and guards have made a habit of abusing their powers. Ultimately, it’s “spiritual emptiness” for the workers at Foxconn which leads to their unrest.

Whatever the cause, experts are warning that this riot could lead to similar problems at other Foxconn factories if these issues aren’t addressed in a meaningful way. Companies like Apple, Samsung, and Microsoft have been stepping in from time to time to tell Foxconn higher-ups to shape up, and those interventions have led to some minor improvements. In order for things to change in a significant way, however, something big needs to happen, and that big thing might just have been Monday’s riot. Here’s hoping it’s enough to get Foxconn to realize that for the good of everyone involved, a major shift needs to occur. Stay tuned.

[Image via Reuters]

Foxconn riot could happen again, experts warn is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Foxconn has frozen production at a Chinese facility after violence broke out and eventually escalated to involve around 2,000 workers, requiring police intervention to settle the dispute. Approximately 40 people were injured after what Foxconn describes as a “personal dispute” snowballed at the Taiyuan plant, the BBC reports, with Chinese state media claiming it had been “triggered by a conflict” involving workers and a restaurant owner.

Foxconn is helping police with investigations to narrow down the exact cause of the aggression, spokesperson Louis Woo told Bloomberg. The downtime at the plant is described as an opportunity for tensions to ease before work resumes. “We want to give people time to cool down” Woo said, denying that it had been triggered by work-related complaints. Photos taken on-site apparently show damage to buildings and other facilities [image via Bill Bishop] though Foxconn has not details what repairs must be made.

Although Foxconn counts Apple among its customers, and is responsible for manufacturing the iPhone 5, the company would not confirm whether production of the new smartphone would be affected by the facility’s closure. However, analysts have suggested that it is more likely to be a hub for producing Nintendo’s Wii and other devices.

According to local reports, the fight between rival groups of workers began at 11pm on Sunday evening outside a company-run dormitory. Foxconn security and police became involved, and the violence was subdued by around 3am, Woo claimed, with several people arrested. 79,000 people are employed overall at the Taiyuan plant.

Foxconn has come under prolonged investigation over concerns regarding working conditions and employee rights in recent months. The company passed a Fair Labor Association assessment, but was later embarrassed by an insider-exposé when a Chinese journalist reported damningly from within one factory having secretly found work there.

Foxconn freezes production after 2,000-strong brawl is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Engadget reported a few hours ago that Foxconn’s Taiyuan plant in China saw a riot occur earlier this morning. While Foxconn is not an exclusive Apple parts manufacturer, that particular factory did have a stake in the fruity company’s latest smartphone, since they produce the back cases of the new iPhone 5 in addition to numerous other devices, according to an undercover report from a Chinese newspaper just last month. Not only that, Engadget’s translation of the report did mention Foxconn’s alleged “harsh management as well as ‘practically compulsory’ over-time work” in addition to citing “unofficial reports claiming the ’2,000-people’ riot was triggered by security guards hitting a worker at 10pm local time.”

Could this result in a delay for iPhone 5 production? Perhaps not, assuming that this is a one-off and isolated incident, although there has been another report of a riot breaking out at Chengdu. Needless to say, it would be putting the cart before the horse to say that the ramp-up of the iPhone 5’s production is the main spark for the riot, but one still cannot rule that out completely with conviction. What do you think of the entire shebang?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Thousands queue up for jobs at Foxconn, in hopes of building the next iPad?, Apple television display panels rumored to be making their way to Foxconn in Q3 2012,