COVID-19: in “iPhone City”, Foxconn dissuades its sick employees from being tested

Workers at the Foxconn factory where iPhones are made have to work, even with COVID-19.

And to prevent them from being sent “home”, it is better for them not to be tested…

COVID-19, a source of chronic problems at Foxconn

Times are tough for the Foxconn factory in Zhenghou, China, which assembles nearly 80% of iPhones, including the latest 14 Pro models. The company’s campus has been grappling with COVID-19 and the attendant troubles in China for two months now.

Thus, in October, the employees had to work in a factory completely cut off from the world, to the point that several hundred of them fled. The atmosphere then heated up even more when, while working in a closed loop, the employees did not receive their salaries. Thus, at the end of November, the mega-factory was the scene of unprecedented riots and police violence.

Management has since attempted to smooth the situation by promising bonuses, while taking advantage of the end of COVID-19 restrictions in China. But it seems that new complications, still related to the coronavirus, are affecting the site.

Employees must work, COVID or not

Indeed, according to a report by rest of the worldof which 9to5mac echoes, employees who show signs of the disease are still pushed to occupy their workstations. Worse, they are under pressure from their management not to test for COVID-19. It must be said that in the event of a positive result, they must go into quarantine and therefore can no longer work.

And if security measures can help prevent contamination, living together does not help slow the epidemic. ” Employees on production lines are equipped with N95 masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But workers say it’s still easy to catch the disease in dormitories, where eight people sleep together in close proximity “says the report.

This injunction affects the entire hierarchy, since according to testimony reported by the media, the managers themselves displayed forms of fatigue during their work period (hoarse voice, staggering gait, etc.). Will the factory become a COVID-19 nest?

Source : 9to5mac