First thousands of workers fled the strict Covid measures, then the Apple supplier Foxconn lured them back with bonuses. After outbreaks of violence, the group now wants to get rid of them with a lot of money.
A Foxconn employee disinfects a factory building in Zhengzhou.
It’s confusing scenes that showed short videos on China’s social networks on Wednesday until they were censored. On one side are dozens, sometimes hundreds of young men, apparently workers at Apple’s Foxconn supplier. On the other side there are at least as many figures in white corona protective suits, apparently police officers, as in a science fiction film. Many videos show brute force.
In one clip, young men push the white figures back with sticks and projectiles. In others, security guards run after individual men and beat them even after they are on the ground. Several photos show young men with bleeding wounds on their heads and arms.
Foxconn is said to have broken promises
According to eyewitnesses who are about “Financial Times” were quoted as saying, protests broke out at the world’s largest iPhone factory in central China’s Zhengzhou on Wednesday morning (local time). The Taiwanese Foxconn group, Apple’s most important supplier, is said to have tied promised bonuses for recently hired workers to new conditions or refused them altogether.
Videos circulating on social media show riots and unrest at Zhengzhou Foxconn, where workers are fed up working during a mismanaged Covid outbreak and feel cheated by the company. As the topic is restricted on Weibo, some wonder if they were shooting a movie there.. pic.twitter.com/CCPI3y2ICR
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) November 23, 2022
The newspaper “South China Morning Post” also quoted sources according to which the food for the workers is said to be very bad. In addition, people infected with Covid should sometimes be housed together with healthy people in the mass accommodations. Foxconn confirmed the protests and violence in a statement. The group emphasized that it would comply with its contractual obligations regarding the premiums.
Wednesday’s escalation is another low point in the tense situation at Foxconn in Zhengzhou since mid-October. Because of a small corona outbreak, the huge factory site went into what is known as “closed loop management”: it was cordoned off, the workers were no longer allowed to leave the site and were supposed to spend their days between the factory lines and the mass accommodation with their shared rooms. This is common practice in China during the pandemic.
Even then, workers complained on social networks about bad food, poor hygiene and a lack of separation between infected and healthy people. It is estimated that thousands of the approximately 200,000 workers broke through barriers and fled – often on foot, because the mandatory Covid apps and roadside checks prevented the use of public transport.
Hundreds of workers and security forces in white corona protective suits faced each other around iPhone factories in central China’s Zhengzhou on Wednesday.
iPhone 14 comes 80 percent from Zhengzhou
Foxconn suddenly lacked urgently needed workers. According to Counterpoint Research, the new iPhone 14 is 80 percent manufactured in Zhengzhou; it is the most important product of Apple, one of the most valuable corporations in the world. And business in the last quarter of the year, with Black Friday and Christmas, is traditionally the most important of the year.
So Foxconn tried, among other things, to bring back workers with a bonus of around 70 Swiss francs and to attract new ones, partly with success. But it wasn’t enough. Since then, local governments have been helping the company in unorthodox ways, calling on military veterans, party members and retired officials to work for Foxconn. How ironic: The Communist Party and the Chinese military are stepping into the breach for an American tech company.
This circumstance alone shows how much not only Apple is dependent on China, but also China on Apple. Foxconn is an immensely important employer, taxpayer and exporter in Henan Province. At times, the Taiwanese employ more than 350,000 seasonal workers in three factories in the city of Zhengzhou.
But after the riots on Wednesday, Foxconn now wants to part with recently hired workers. Apparently, the group wants to get rid of supposed trouble spots. Anyone who immediately terminates their employment contract should receive 8,000 renminbi – according to a Foxconn announcement published by the Chinese online publication “Cailianshe”. Another 2,000 renminbi are said to be available if you immediately board a bus to take you away.
Shuttle buses bring Foxconn employees back to their hometowns after a Covid outbreak in Zhengzhou at the end of October.
1300 francs for returnees
This total of 10,000 renminbi – the equivalent of a good 1,300 Swiss francs – is a lot of money for a Foxconn worker: it corresponds to up to two months’ wages. Apparently, Foxconn now prefers to accept further production losses than to risk further resentment and negative headlines. Either way, the situation is likely to remain tense: On Wednesday, the city of Zhengzhou, with a population of twelve million, reported 827 corona cases and imposed an initial five-day lockdown.
Two weeks ago, Apple announced lower-than-expected deliveries of iPhone 14 Pro models in a brief announcement. The delays are now likely to widen. Swiss online retailers do not have the devices in stock, Digitec states waiting times from the end of December to the end of January.