Ben Jiang Shenzhen and Tracy Qu
Protests over Covid-19 measures and employee benefits that descended into violent clashes between hundreds of workers and security forces at the world’s largest iPhone factory in Zhengzhou, capital of central Henan province, are expected to further derail manufacturing and global shipment schedules of Apple’s flagship product.
That turn of events also showed how the efforts by Henan authorities to help resume full production at the Foxconn Technology Group-operated facility have backfired, which could accelerate the pace of shifting more electronics production outside mainland China to countries like Vietnam and India.
Videos that circulated online on Tuesday and Wednesday, which were verified by several former Foxconn employees in Zhengzhou, showed fights breaking out between workers and security forces at the factory. These videos also showed angry workers kicking down barriers and dismantling polymerase chain reaction testing kiosks.
A major complaint by workers, some of whom agreed to speak with the South China Morning Post, is that new recruits were forced to share dormitories with known Covid-19 patients inside the Zhengzhou compound. Foxconn denied this allegation in its statement issued on Wednesday.
Local authorities had earlier sent in thousands of personnel to help Foxconn enforce quarantine, ensuring workers do not leave the area as part of a “closed-loop” production system that keeps all personnel living and working inside the campus. At full production capacity, Foxconn’s Zhengzhou manufacturing complex can accommodate up to 300,000 workers.
Apart from the crammed dormitories and rigid quarantine enforcement, workers also complained about employee benefits. Two ex-workers who spoke on condition of anonymity said promised allowances were cut. While Foxconn confirmed on Wednesday that workers protested over their work allowance, it said this payment “has always been fulfilled based on contractual obligation”.
The latest disruption at the Foxconn site reflects how initiatives taken by Chinese government authorities to support this major facility in Apple’s manufacturing supply chain were miscalculated and have spectacularly boomeranged.
A provincewide campaign by local authorities in Henan recently saw People’s Liberation Army veterans being actively recruited to work at the Foxconn facility. Authorities also encouraged cadres in the cities of Kaifeng and Jiyuan in Henan to “form teams” and join Foxconn’s assembly lines in Zhengzhou for at least a month.
Workers at Foxconn Technology Group’s manufacturing complex in Zhengzhou, capital of central Henan province, are seen kicking down barriers in protest, as they clash with security personnel and local police on November 23, 2022. Photo: Agence France-Presse.
The exodus prompted Apple to warn about “lower iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max shipments” because Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory was “operating at significantly reduced capacity”.
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