Hongfujin Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (foxconn), an OEM MP3 music
player manufacturer of global IT giant Apple, filed a lawsuit against Weng Bao
and Wang You, members of the Editorial Board and correspondents for the First
Business Daily on July 10, claiming they damaged the company's reputation and
demanding 30 million yuan (US$3. 75 million) in compensation and a freeze on the
two reporters' personal property, the First Business Daily reported on August
28.
The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court
has frozen no more than 20 million yuan (US$2.5 million) of
Wang's deposits, stock shares and other pragmatic properties and no more than 10 million
yuan (US$1.2 million) of Wen's deposits, stocks and other pragmatic properties.
Officials with the paper have vowed to support the reporters and maintain
their interests.
It is the biggest of its kind in terms of the amount of the compensation
demanded from reporters.
On June 15 of this year Wang and Wen reported a story on an Apple
supplier, Foxconn, a factory where workers allegedly stood for over 12 hours at a
time, worked a lot of overtime, and had numerous problems with the management.
Apple Company Inc. on August 18 issued a report after its investigation into
the case, saying that Foxconn's 'complex salary structure' severely violated
Apple's Supplier Code of Conduct.
Workers have to spend more than 60 hours a week on the job, which is in
violation of one of the provisions of Apple's Supplier Code of Conduct that
dictates that the longest period of over time worked in a week cannot be more
than 60 hours and workers must have a day off from work each week.
After inspecting seven months of shift reports, Apple foundd one in four
workers worked six consecutive days per week and their overtime work surpassed
35 per cent of an average workweek. Foxconn has signed a contract with Apple to
produce the fashionable Ipod mp3 music players.
On June 11, the Sunday Mail reported workers at the Foxconn factory have to
work 15 hours a day but earn just US$50 a month.
Apple has launched an investigation into Foxconn, and reiterated it would not
tolerate any labor violations.
However, Foxconn says the report is groundless.
