2,000 Workers Involved in Foxconn Brawl

With class tensions in China running high, labor conditions under an international microscope and a new iPhone just landing in well-stitched pockets, we’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions about the significance of what’s being reported as a “brawl” at a Foxconn plant in northern China.

Some 2,000 of the facility’s 79,000 workers were said to be involved and authorities are investigating, according to the firm, which manufactures countless high-tech devices for better known brands, including Apple and Intel.

BBC:

About 40 people were taken to hospital and a number of individuals have been arrested, the company said.

The cause of the brawl is unknown, but Foxconn said local authorities were now conducting an investigation into the incident.

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Foxconn is owned by Hon Hai, a Taiwanese company. Although its name is often left off the products it assembles (on Apple’s devices, a simple “Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in China” suffices), the company has come to stand for poor working conditions symptomatic of outsourcing.

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer. Follow him on Twitter: @peesch.