Reporting about a recent protest by over 1,000 employees of a Foxconn supplier in China, labor protection group Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) revealed that the workers went on a strike in persistence with their demand for improved salaries.

According to SACOM, the workers' strike took place at a Foxconn factory in Fengcheng, China; a plant which is managed by one of Foxconn's suppliers, Jiangxi Xin Hai Yang Precision Components Co.

The key issue at dispute between the management at Jiangxi Xin Hai Yang Precision Components and the protesting workers is the salary drawn by the workers. As per reports, the workers at the factory are paid a monthly base salary of 1300 yuan (US$207); and an overtime-inclusive earning of up to 2,600 yuan during the peak production season.

About the strike by the workers demanding a better pay package, the watchdog group revealed that the strike began last Thursday, and continued till Friday. During the course of the strike, the huge number of protesting workers tried to block access to a main street in the city; and `riot police' had to be summoned to bring the situation under control.

With the intervention of `riot police' underscoring a crackdown on the workers and the use of a water cannon as well as physical violence to suppress the protest, SACOM said that the workers' agitation was yet another incidence which showed that "regardless the media campaign of Apple and Foxconn which trumpets the decent working conditions in the factories, sweatshop-like conditions remain."