Hundreds of workers streamed through dark streets, blocking an entrance to an iPhone supplier’s factory in eastern China to protest unpaid bonuses and factory reassignments, two witnesses and a US nonprofit group said on Thursday.
Jabil Inc, which runs the Green Point factory in Wuxi city, maintains that only 20 to 40 employees were actually protesting and the rest were night-shift workers trying to enter the factory, but vowed to take corrective action over the wage dispute.
“As long as they can present evidence of promises by brokers, we will help them to get paid,” US-based Jabil spokeswoman Lydia Huang said.
Jabil is “committed to ensuring every employee is paid fairly and on time,” the company said in a statement on late Thursday.
Apple Inc told the New York-based China Labor Watch that it was investigating and pledged to ensure that workers got fair compensation.
“We are requiring Jabil to send a comprehensive employee survey to ascertain where gaps exist in payment, and they must create an action plan that ensures all employees are paid for the promised bonus immediately,” Apple said in the e-mail to the nonprofit.
The protest highlights the complexity of overseeing global supply chains that can involve hundreds of manufacturers and subcontractors, as well as third-party labor brokers — and their subcontractors — that are tasked with recruiting workers for those factories. Companies differ in the amount of responsibility they are willing to take on. Apple stepped up oversight and disclosure following a spate of negative reports about worker suicides and injuries at suppliers.
“About 600 workers went protesting for failing to get their bonus,” a worker surnamed Zhang said on Thursday.
Like many of his colleagues, he was promised a bonus of up to 7,000 yuan (US$1057.72) if he stayed for 45 days when he signed up for the job through a labor broker, he said, adding that “it has already been over three months, but I still haven’t gotten the money.”
Tu Changli, a security guard at Jabil’s Green Point factory, said a labor broker promised him 2,000 yuan if he stayed for two months.
“I didn’t get it at all,” he said, adding that he saw hundreds of workers protesting.
Tensions had been running high at Jabil’s Green Point factory. Tu said he saw a worker talked down from the edge of a rooftop late last month. Zhang said that on Sept. 30, he saw a security guard hit a worker with a wooden stick so hard that the stick broke.
Both incidents had to do with disputes with security guards, not underpayment, Apple said in its e-mail to China Labor Watch, adding that it was working with Jabil “to make sure their security guards are properly trained to avoid and de-escalate situations.”
TECH TITANS: Amazon’s latest chip joins Google in competing for the 90 percent market share held by Nvidia, which claims it is ‘a generation ahead of the industry’ Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Tuesday launched its in-house-built Trainium3 artificial intelligence (AI) chip, marking a significant push to compete with Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market for AI computing power. The move intensifies competition in the AI chip market, where Nvidia dominates with an estimated 80 to 90 percent market share for products used in training large language models that power the likes of ChatGPT. Google last week caused tremors in the industry when it was reported that Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc would employ Google AI chips in data centers, signaling new competition for Nvidia. This followed the release last month of
INSULATED: The company said it is less exposed to global complications, as it has built a strong footprint worldwide, and has multiple sources of rare earths and raw minerals Merck Group yesterday said it would ramp up production next year at its new flagship facility in Kaohsiung’s Lujhu District (路竹) to satisfy growing demand for advanced semiconductor materials and specialty gases, and to address supply resilience issues amid mounting geopolitical risks. Merck made the remarks during a news conference before the inauguration of its 500 million euros (US$582.1 million) facility, which is also to supply other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, it said. Merck executive board deputy chair and electronics CEO Kai Beckmann told reporters the company adopted a “local-for-local” strategy about seven years ago to address the cycle time of
Two companies wholly owned by the daughter of the founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Monday reported to the Taiwan Stock Exchange that they would dispose of all of the Hon Hai shares they hold. In filings with the exchange, Hong Wei Investment Co (鋐維) said it would sell the 2.771 million Hon Hai shares it holds and Frontier Investment Corp (承鋒投資) said it would sell its 2.409 million Hon Hai shares from tomorrow until Jan. 3 next year. The two companies are wholly owned and chaired by Shirley Gou (郭曉玲), the eldest daughter of Hon Hai founder Terry
RIDING THE WAVE: The race to build AI infrastructure has lifted the valuations of top memory makers, such as Micron, amid dwindling inventories and supply challenges Micron Technology Inc is to spend ￥1.5 trillion (US$9.6 billion) to build a plant in western Japan to make memory chips for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, the Nikkei reported on Saturday. The move comes as Micron seeks to diversify advanced chip production outside of Taiwan, the Nikkei article said, citing people familiar with the matter. The new factory will manufacture high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component for working with AI processors such as those made by Nvidia Corp, the report said. Micron would build the facility within the compound of its Hiroshima plant, starting in May next year, with plans to launch
RSS