Post date: Sep 24, 2012 10:53:4 AM
TAIYUAN, SHANXI PROVINCE, CHINA (SEPTEMBER 24, 2012) (REUTERS) - Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group closed its Taiyuan plant in northern China on Monday (September 24) after a personal dispute spiralled into a brawl involving 2,000 workers in a dormitory late on Sunday night, injuring 40.
Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group closes its Taiyuan plant in northern China after a personal dispute spirals into a brawl involving 2,000 workers in a dormitory, injuring 40.
The Taiyuan plant, which employs about 79,000 workers, makes automobile electronic components, consumer electronic components and precision moldings.
An employee told Reuters the plant also makes parts and assembles Apple's iPhone 5.
In a statement, Foxconn cited police as saying about 40 people were taken to hospital for medical attention and a number were arrested.
The company said the incident escalated from what it called a personal dispute between several employees late on Sunday (September 23) in a privately managed dormitory, and was brought under control by local police at around in the early hours of Monday.
It was not immediately clear how long the shutdown would last at the plant, which employs about 79,000 people in the Shanxi provincial capital, while police and company officials investigate the cause of the disturbance.
China's Xinhua News Agency, citing Taiyuan City's public security bureau, reported that about 10 people were hurt in the fighting and around 5,000 police were sent to the scene.
The unrest is the latest in a string of incidents at plants run by Foxconn, the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co and the world's largest contract maker of electronic goods.
Hon Hai's Taipei-listed shares fell 1 percent on Monday in a broader market that rose 0.2 percent.