Workers sue iPhone maker Wintek over n-hexane poisoning

John Biggs

Biggs is the East Coast Editor of TechCrunch. Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. Email him directly at... → Learn More

Friday, May 14th, 2010

Forty-four workers are suing iPhone screen manufacturer Wintek for forcing them to use n-hexane, the same stuff they found in soy burgers a few weeks ago, to clean iPhone screens. The chemical causes “nerve damage and sometimes paralysis.”

Chinese media is reporting a manager forced his employees to use hexane because of its cleaning properties. The lawsuit, unusual in China, could also be related to growing worker unrest in factories.

“Lawsuits of any kind are uncommon in China, where disputes are usually addressed quietly behind closed doors,” Stratfor reports. “Much more common is labor abuse, and given the rising power of workers, we can expect to see more such suits, which provide legal outlets for social tension, a constant concern for Beijing.”

via Barrons

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