Foxconn strikers detained in India
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Twelve people remain in police custody after 319 Foxconn workers were arrested for taking part in a month-long strike at the company's plant in the southern Indian city of Chennai, according to the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF).
The workers were arrested by local police on October 10th, 18 days after stopping work in support of demands for union recognition and a wage increase.
Most of the detained workers were released on bail four days later but according to the IMF website 12 people were kept in custody. They include the state secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) A. Soundarajan and the organization's district secretary E. Muthukumar.
Management at the Chennai plant reacted to the stoppage by deducting eight days pay from the approximately 1500 strikers and suspending 23 strike leaders.
Taiwan-based Foxconn is the world's largest electronics manufacturer and produces brand goods for Apple, Dell, Hewlett Packard and others. Over the past year, a wave of worker suicides highlighted the low wages and harsh management style at the company's factories in China. The initial reaction of Foxconn CEO Terry Gou was to demand workers sign a pledge not to kill themselves. Under public pressure, Gou later agreed to wage hikes, but it remains unclear whether they have been implemented.
Hong Kong-based NGO Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) today issued a statement calling for the release of the strikers and condemning Foxconn's response to the Chennai strike.
SACOM said Foxconn should abandon its "heavy-handed management methodology, enter into dialogue with the union for a wage increase in good faith, and lift the suspension of the 23 workers who participated in the strike."
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