Foxconn workers go on strike to protest working conditions while assembling the Apple iPhone 5

After management at Foxconn enacted new, strict demands on the production of the Apple iPhone 5, thousands of Foxconn workers went on strike. This comes from a report by an independent workers' rights organization. The workers at the Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, China started walking off the job at 1pm local time on Friday (1am EDT). Most of the workers involved deal with on-site quality control for the Apple iPhone 5. The strike continued to affect production well into Friday evening as the job action paralyzed the assembly lines at the plant.

A Foxconn factory worker

Under the new guidelines, workers now have stricter standards that might seem nearly impossible to achieve. Those working on the Apple iPhone 5 must be precise within two-hundredths of a millimeter. According to the China Labor Watch (CLW), workers could not turn out phones that precise because of design defects with the latest version of Apple's iconic smartphone. The combination of the new standards along with Foxconn's refusal to allow workers to take vacation time during a week long holiday, led to clashes between inspectors and workers. Some of the injured required hospitalization.

190,000 people are employed at  Foxconn's Zhenghou complex which was visited this past March by Apple CEO Tim Cook. CLW director Li Qiang spoke to his sources at Foxconn to confirm the strike, which was still going on at 11pm local time Friday evening (11am EDT). Foxconn's assembly lines do run 24 hours a day and it is unclear if workers from other shifts are taking part in the job action.

In late September, Foxconn had to close a factory in China for one day after a brawl broke out among 2,000 employees with 40 getting hurt. The plant reopened the next day.