Police beat workers protesting wage dispute at Apple’s biggest factory that makes iPhones, new product models delayed due to controls imposed as China tries to stem a surge in numbers case of COVID-19 infection.
FoxconnThe largest contract assembler of smartphones and electronic devices, is struggling to fulfill orders for iPhone 14″ after thousands of workers left the factory in downtown Zhengzhou last month following complaints about unsafe working conditions.
China’s position as an export power is based on factories like Foxconn, which assemble the world’s consumer electronics, toys and other goods.
The ruling Communist Party is trying to stem the latest wave of outbreaks without shutting down factories and the rest of the economy as it did in early 2020. Its tactics include “closed-loop management.” ”, whereby workers live in their factory without outside. contact.
Foxconn offers to pay higher wages to attract more workers to its Zhengzhou factory to assemble the iPhone 14, which starts at $799 (about Rs 65,270) in the United States.
On Tuesday, a protest broke out after employees who had traveled long distances to get jobs at the factory complained that the company had changed the terms of their pay, according to Li Sanshan, an employee at the factory. pellets.
Li said he quit his job as a waiter when he saw an advertisement promising a salary of CNY 25,000 (about Rs 2.8 lakh) for two months of work. That would be a significant increase over the average salary for this type of work in the area.
After the employee arrived, the company said it had to work two more months at a lower salary to receive CNY 25,000 (about Rs 2.8 lakh), according to Li.
“Foxconn made very attractive job offers, and workers from all over the country came, only to find out that they had been turned into a hoax,” he said.
Online videos show thousands of masked people facing rows of police wearing white protective suits with plastic riot shields. Police used stone batons and beat a protester after he grabbed a metal pole that had been used to beat him. The people who shot the footage said it was shot at this location.
The Zhengzhou protests come as the ruling Communist Party faces growing frustration over restrictions in areas across China that have closed shops and offices and detained goods. million people in their homes.
That has boiled down to protests in several cities. Videos on social media showed residents tearing down barricades set up to enforce neighborhood closures.
The ruling party promised this month to try to ease the disruption by shortening the quarantine period and making other changes. But the party is sticking to a “no-COVIDThe strategy aims to isolate every case while other governments loosen control measures and try to live with the virus.
According to Li, the protest in Zhengzhou lasted until Wednesday morning when thousands of workers gathered outside the dormitory and confronted factory security officers.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company previously warned that iPhone 14 deliveries would be delayed after access to the industrial zone around the Zhengzhou factory, where Foxconn says it employs 200,000, was suspended following the outbreak. .
Other videos show protesters spraying fire extinguishers at police.
A man who identified himself as the Communist Party Secretary in charge of community services appeared in a video posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo urging protesters to withdraw. He assured them that their requests would be met.
Foxconn, with its headquarters in New Taipei City, Taiwan, said contractual payment obligations were “always fulfilled”.
The company denied what it said was an online comment that the employee with the virus lived in a dormitory at the Zhengzhou factory. It said the facilities were disinfected and passed a government inspection before employees moved in.
“Regarding any acts of violence, the company will continue to liaise with employees and the government to prevent similar incidents from occurring again,” a company statement said.
Foxconn offers to pay up to CNY 10,000 (about Rs 1.1 lakh) to newly hired employees who want to quit and return home, financial news outlet Cailianshe reported, citing unidentified recruitment agents.
Foxconn did not respond to requests for confirmation or details.
Protests have flared up as the number and severity of outbreaks increase across China, prompting areas including the capital Beijing to close residential areas and impose restrictions that the people consider to be beyond what the national government allows.
More than 253,000 cases have been detected in the past three weeks and the daily average is rising, the government reported on Tuesday. This week, authorities reported China’s first COVID-19 death in six months.
A spokesman for the National Health Commission, Mi Feng, said the government would enforce its anti-COVID policy while “resolutely overcoming the paralysis and lax mindset”.
Early on Thursday, the government reported a total of 31,656 cases found in the past 24 hours, including 27,646 asymptomatic cases and 212 infections believed to have been acquired abroad. The total was up about 10 percent from the previous day.
Also on Thursday, people in eight districts of Zhengzhou with a total of 6.6 million residents were asked to stay at home for five days, going out only to buy food or get medical care. Daily mass testing has been ordered in what the city government calls a “war of destruction” against the virus.
The Guangzhou city government, where the outbreak is the largest, announced Wednesday that it has opened 19 temporary hospitals with a total of nearly 70,000 beds for coronavirus patients. The city announced plans last week to build hospital and quarantine facilities for 250,000 people.
Also on Wednesday, Beijing opened a hospital in an exhibition center and suspended access to Beijing University of International Studies after a case of the virus was detected there. The capital had previously closed shopping malls and office buildings, and suspended access to some apartment complexes.
