William Gallagher
Workers rioting at Foxconn's main iPhone factory in Zhengzhou have clashed with police as windows and surveillance cameras have been smashed.
Even as Foxconn is seeking to hire 100,000 more workers — and the Chinese authorities are asking ex-military people to sign up — staff have already been fleeing the factory. Now a riot broke out on Wednesday, with reports of hundreds of workers complaining about pay and conditions.
According to Reuters, these rare scenes of public dissent in China were finally triggered by an alleged plan to delay bonus payments.
More riots broken out at Foxconn factory in communist #china's Zhengzhou. Violence clashes escalated by both CCP & chinese rioters, tear gas grenades were fired as chinese rioters returned hostiles w/ fire distinguisher. pic.twitter.com/5OU7dXAiiE
— Northrop Gundam (@GundamNorthrop) November 23, 2022
Footage of the riots has been circulating online, though Reuters reports that most has been deleted from the Chinese social media site Kuaishou.
The various videos reportedly show workers complaining about not getting meals while in COVID lockdown. They also say that China and Foxconn's "closed-loop production" health measures — where staff live and work on-site — do not work.
"It's now evident that closed-loop production in Foxconn only helps in preventing COVID from spreading to the city," Aiden Chau of China Labour Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based advocacy group, told Reuters in an email. "[It] does nothing (if not make it even worse) for the workers in the factory."
In a statement to Reuters, Foxconn denied claims of altering contracts to prevent bonus payments, calling them "untrue."
"Regarding any violence, the company will continue to communicate with employees and the government," added the spokesperson, "to prevent similar incidents from happening again."
Apple has not yet commented on the rioting.
This is not the first riot that has been seen at a factory wholly or mostly producing Apple products. In May, workers at a plant in Shanghai that makes the MacBook Pro rioted over the coronavirus measures.
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
16 Comments
No matter what it takes, Apple and Foxconn need to move as much production out of China as possible.
Very interesting how Tim Cook selects specific issues to voice his displeasure/outrage, but ignores issues like this. I think this is called hypocrisy. Come on Cook, why are you silent when it comes to the CCP?
China did this to themselves
please be accurate, this has nothing to do with Taiwan owned Foxconn or Apple. They are both following Chinese communists Covid rules.
these Foxconn workers can be considered the fat cats of China as they are the highest paid factory workers. So they feel like they can speak up against the government more than others
however, they are also fearing Covid, which is a cold in test of the world now but Chinese government still portrays it as the bubonic plague so in the end, Chinese communists have themselves to thank for this
again, please be clear, this is not Foxconn or Apple