Foxconn hit with strikes following HP cuts

About 1,000 workers at a factory of manufacturing giant Foxconn Technology Group went on strike on Wednesday demanding better wages, after production orders from Hewlett-Packard were cut, according to a labor protection group. Foxconn had allegedly been reducing workers’ overtime at the factory, located in Chongqing, China, as a tactic to encourage employees to voluntarily quit and forfeit their severance pay, said New York-based China Labor Watch in an online posting. Many workers had relied on the overtime pay for the bulk of their earnings, the labor protection group said. “Workers demonstrated with holding banners, including one that read, ‘We aren’t robots. We need to eat and feed our family,'” the group added. On Thursday, Foxconn said the demonstration was peaceful, and that the employees returned to work for four hours, after holding discussions and making agreements with company management.