Out-Law News 1 min. read
04 Sep 2006, 5:21 pm
Foxconn, a subsidiary of Taiwanese manufacturing giant Hon Hai, makes iPods for Apple. It has been the subject of a number of articles about its working regime and allegations had been made that the company coerced employees into working overtime.
Apple conducted research into the issue earlier this summer and produced a report stating that it believed there was no coercion, though employees did work longer than its stipulated 60 hours per week.
Two journalists for the China Business News were sued for defamation by Foxconn in an unusual departure from normal practice, which is to sue the newspaper publisher. The action was condemned by press freedom body Reporters Without Borders.
Foxconn demanded $3.8m in damages, roughly 800 years worth of wages for the pair, and a court froze all the journalists's assets, including property, cars and bank accounts.
Last week Foxconn partially capitulated in the face of mounting international pressure, reducing its defamation claim to one yuan, which is around four pence. It has now dropped the suit altogether, according to Reporters Without Borders.
That body had written directly to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs in a bid to have him intervene. "We believe that all Wang and Weng did was report the facts and we condemn Foxconn’s reaction," it said in a 29th August letter. "We therefore ask you to intercede on behalf of these two journalists so that their assets are unfrozen and the lawsuit is dropped."
The story produced by the two journalists criticised working conditions at a Foxconn plant near Longhua outside the city of Shenzen.
"One cannot say it too often: it is possible to work in this country without giving up ones values," said a statement from Reporters Without Borders. "We therefore call on foreign businesses to demonstrate moral courage when they enter the Chinese market."
