Foxconn India Workers Arrested

NEW DELHI--A simmering dispute at Foxconn's India factory--which, until recently, cranked out parts for smartphones--took a new twist on Monday when about 100 employees were arrested, a police official said.

The conflict at Foxconn, a Taiwanese company and goliath in the business of making mobile devices, comes just as India is trying to court more foreign investment in the all-important manufacturing sector.

About 250 people tried to enter the gates of the plant to punch the clock to claim wages, but we were prevented from entering by the police, said E. Muthukumar, president of Foxconn India Employees Union. He put the total number of people arrested at about 168.

The protest came just days after the Taiwanese company said it was scaling down operations at the plant due to a lack of orders. Foxconn India once exclusively manufactured cellphone components for Nokia's India plant, which stands just a few blocks away and within the same campus. The Foxconn plant is in fact part of the Nokia Telecom Special Economic Zone at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai.

The Nokia plant was once one of the Finnish company's largest factories, employing as many as 8,000 people.

However, as of Nov. 1, Nokia suspended manufacturing at its plant because of a lengthy, and still unresolved, dispute with India's tax authorities. That dispute prevented Nokia from selling the plant to Microsoft Corp. earlier this year as part of a deal when Nokia exited the handsets-and-services business.

Regarding the Foxconn protesters on Monday, "We have taken them under preventive arrest and will be released in the evening," C. Vijaya Kumar, superintendent of police at Kancheepuram district, told The Wall Street Journal on telephone.

Executives at Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., couldn't be reached for comment immediately.

Lorraine Luk in Hong Kong contributed to this article.

Write to R. Jai Krishna at [e-mail]

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