Foxconn’s working conditions are tougher than ever!
Largest iPhone factory needs 100,000 workers to keep up with production, but everything is against Far from attracting labour, Foxconn’s main plant faces the flight of thousands of workers, who complain about poor working conditions and forced isolation to prevent the spread of COVID outbreaks.
The factory in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou was the scene of riots and violent demonstrations by workers, which began early Wednesday morning, demanding better wages and conditions, but above all to protest an alleged plan to delay the payment of bonds.
Foxconn’s tense situation complicates Apple’s plans
Although the situation was made public thanks to the images circulating online, several of them were deleted under pressure from the authorities of this country. Available videos show workers complaining about not receiving meals during the COVID lockdown. They also say that the “closed-loop production” sanitary measures of China and Foxconn, where staff live and work on site, are not working.
More riots break out at Foxconn factory in communist #ChinaThis is Zhengzhou. The violent clashes escalated by both the CCP and the Chinese rioters, tear gas canisters were fired as the Chinese rioters sent back the enemies with a fire indicator. pic.twitter.com/5OU7dXAiiE
— Northrop Gundam ∀🦅⚔️ (@GundamNorthrop) November 23, 2022
A week ago, the manufacturer ordered the confinement of workers at headquarters to obey President Xi Jinping’s strict zero COVID policy.
In a statement to Reuters, Foxconn denied allegations of tampering with contracts to avoid paying bonuses, calling them “false”. Although Apple has not released any 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.
The Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou has around 200,000 workers, who produce most of Apple’s new phones. If the situation is not resolved, Foxconn and Apple face a big problem and that is why the company plans to divert part of the production to other countries like 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 lineups have certainly taken a hit and Apple is just hoping the iPhone doesn’t suffer the same fate.
