Foxconn’s working conditions are more tense than ever!
The largest iPhone factory needs 100,000 workers to keep up with production, but everything is against Far from attracting labor, Foxconn’s main plant faces the flight of thousands of workers, who complain about the poor working conditions and forced isolation to prevent the spread of COVID outbreaks.
The plant located in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou has been the scene of riots and violent protests by workers, which began early Wednesday morning, demanding better wages and conditions, but especially protesting against an alleged plan to delay payment of bonds.
Tense Foxconn situation complicates Apple’s plans
Although the situation has been made known thanks to the images circulating online, several of these have been removed due to pressure from the authorities of that country. Available videos show workers complaining about not receiving meals during the COVID lockdown. They also say China’s and Foxconn’s “closed-loop production” health measures, where staff live and work on-site, are not working.
More riots broken out at Foxconn factory in communist #China‘s Zhengzhou. Violence clashes escalated by both CCP & Chinese rioters, tear gas grenades were fired as Chinese rioters returned hostiles w/ fire distinguisher. pic.twitter.com/5OU7dXAiiE
— Northrop Gundam ∀🦅⚔️ (@GundamNorthrop) November 23, 2022
A week ago, the manufacturer ordered a lockdown of workers at headquarters to obey President Xi Jinping’s strict zero-COVID policy.
In a statement to Reuters, Foxconn denied the claims of tampering with contracts to avoid paying bonuses, calling them “false.” While Apple has not issued statements in this regard.
Regarding any violence, the company will continue to communicate with employees and the government,” the spokesperson added, “to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant has about 200,000 workers, who produce most of Apple’s new phones. If the situation is not resolved, both Foxconn and Apple face a big problem and that is why the company has plans to divert part of the production to other countries such as India. However, these measures will not be noticeable in the short term.
Over the past two years, Apple has worked very hard to maintain its supply chain. While the company hasn’t slowed down the release of new iPhones and is still sticking to its fall release schedule, the Mac and iPad lines have certainly taken a hit. And Apple just hopes the iPhone doesn’t meet the same fate.