China: iPhone 5 rollout safe, Foxconn reports, despite reported labor strike

Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that assembles Apple products, has denied reports that a workers' strike is crippling the plant producing the iPhone 5.

According to Reuters, 3,000 to 4,000 workers were striking at Foxconn's Zhengzhou complex in central China on Friday afternoon, spurred on by China Labor Watch, a New York-based advocacy group.

The strike was reportedly timed to coincide with Apple's biggest ever global rollout for the iPhone 5 smartphone, with the company already struggling with tight availability of the phones in stores.

The strike began at 1 p.m. local time on Friday with the majority of its participants from the on-site quality control line for the iPhone, CNN reported.

The work stoppage had "paralyzed the production lines," CNN reports.

Neither Foxconn nor Apple responded to requests for comment by CNN.

According to Reuters, Foxconn employs more than a million people and makes most of the world's iPads and iPhones.

Its factories have experienced frequent unrest lately, with thousands rioting last month at Foxconn's Taiyuan facility in northern China.

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