Protests at iPhone Factory: more than 20,000 newly hired workers walk out of Foxconn's plant in Zhengzhou
Over 20,000 workers, mainly those who were just hired and not yet on the job, have walked out of Apple supplier Foxconn's manufacturing facility in Zhengzhou, China Reuters reported as per a source. These departures create further problems for the company that aimed to resume production in full by late November. The walkout occurred after preceding worker unrest that shook the planet’s biggest iPhone factory.
There is on comment from Foxconn, which offered the workers a financial reward before the walkout. The management admits and apologizes for the “technical error” in regard to wages, which probably led to the protests that even turned somewhat violent.
Videos clearly show a lot of workers with their luggage standing in queues for buses, set to go home. The open opposition, which is not typical for China, started several days before, but the dissent has been brewing for a long time. Overdue wages and perhaps overly tough Covid restrictions were among the reasons.
Another source claims that the protests have had no impact on the production process, since the newly hired staff has not been engaged in the actual work yet.
China is dealing with record numbers of coronavirus cases and the lockdowns are getting tougher, creating a general unrest in the country. Foxconn held a hiring driver early in November, hoping to compensate for the spread of coronavirus and the need to isolate many staff members in October.