Workers at a Foxconn Technology Group campus in China staged a protest last week, threatening to jump off a building if the company did not meet their compensation demands, according to local Chinese news reports.
Foxconn, a manufacturer of electronics for companies including Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Dell, confirmed on Wednesday in a statement that the protest had taken place. About 150 employees at the company’s Wuhan campus staged the incident on January 4, it said.
Pictures of the protest have been circulated by Chinese media and on social networking sites, showing a large crowd of workers gathered on top of the roof of a building, with fire trucks parked below. More pictures can be found here.
“The incident was successfully and peacefully resolved later that morning after discussions between the workers, local Foxconn officials and representatives from the local government,” the company said.
Foxconn did not state what it manufactures at its Wuhan campus.
The dispute occurred after workers were told they would be transferred to another business unit due to a shift in production lines, according to Foxconn. 45 employees decided to voluntarily resign, while the remaining workers chose to stay with the company.
Working conditions at Foxconn’s factories in China have been under the spotlight since 2010, when a string of suicides occurred at the factories, that involved employees jumping off buildings. During that year, there were a total of 18 suicide attempts, with 14 deaths, according to watchdog group Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior.