The current situation at Foxconn’s largest iPhone plant in China intensifies due to continued COVID-19 problems. Live-streamed videos show angry workers clashing with Foxconn security personnel.
Tension Escalates at Apple’s iPhone Plant in Zhengzhou, China
Footage of the escalating tension in Foxconn’s iPhone plant in Zhengzhou, China started circulating on Wednesday. Said footage showed hundreds of angry workers marching and protesting. Some of the workers were confronted by security personnel wearing hazmat suits as well as riot police. The report also said that police beat workers who were live-streaming the protests.
According to Bloomberg, the protest started overnight with workers complaining about unpaid wages and bonuses, as well as fears of spreading infection. The report said several workers were injured and anti-riot police arrived on the scene to restore order.
One of the videos circulated showed irate workers surrounding a silent, downcast manager inside a conference room. The workers were voicing their grievances and questioning their COVID test results. A male worker in the Foxconn iPhone plant said, “I’m really scared about this place, we all could be COVID positive now.” Another worker added, “You are sending us to death.”
Foxconn Fails to Fulfill Its Promise
In some videos, workers were seen complaining about the food they had been given. They also said that the company has yet to pay the bonus promised if they stayed in the Foxconn Zhengzhou plant. A Foxconn iPhone plant employee said that the company “changed the contract so that they could not get the subsidy as they had promised.” He added, “They quarantine us but don’t provide food.” The same employee also claimed that he saw a man “severely injured” after a beating from anti-riot police.
Interestingly, some of the workers told BBC that when Foxconn recruited new workers, it mixed them with old workers who were already positive for COVID. This led many workers to fear their working conditions. Several of them even left the Foxconn plant, forcing the company to recruit new workers with a promise of better pay and benefits. But apparently, Foxconn did not fulfill its promise. Hence, workers started protesting.
Neither Foxconn nor Apple have issued statements about the ongoing tensions in the Foxconn iPhone plant in Zhengzhou.
Anyone know if Tim Cook is looking into this? This is Apple’s problem as well as Foxconn’s.
We can’t know for certain, since neither Apple nor Foxconn have commented. About all I can say is that I presume Tim’s looking into it…I hope he’s looking into it.