Foxconn (Honghai Precision Industries), a Taiwanese company that produces Apple’s iPhones, has begun to deal with the situation by offering some benefits to factory workers in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China, who have held large-scale protests if they wish. to leave If additional workers leave, iPhone production and supply is expected to be disrupted.
The Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the 24th that Foxconn announced on the 23rd that it would pay 10,000 yuan (about 1.86 million won) per worker if they wanted to leave the company after protests on large scale happened in the Zhengzhou. a plant . Newly hired workers will be paid 8,000 yuan if they submit a letter of resignation, and an additional 2,000 yuan will be paid when they leave the factory. The company explained that this amount is the sum of wages, quarantine allowances, and other expenses. Foxconn said, “Some workers are still concerned about Corona 19 and want to go home after leaving the company,” and “the company understands those concerns.”
At the Zhengzhou Foxconn factory, workers protested against non-payment of bonuses promised by the company the day before and poor conditions. It is said that the protest on this day was triggered by the fact that the company had recently hired new workers and had promised to give additional wages if they worked until February 15 next year, but had unilaterally extended the period by one month . Workers living in quarantine at the factory due to the spread of Corona 19 also expressed dissatisfaction with poor living and working conditions, such as poor food and concerns about Corona 19 infection. On this day, the protest continued for a long time from dawn and it led to a physical confrontation with the police. The company promised to pay allowances to deal with this, and announced that the operation of the factory was being normalized that night. However, protests continue at the factory as benefits promised by the company are limited to newly hired workers, SCMP said.
If a large number of workers leave because the company pays allowances and guarantees on returning home, there may be a disruption in the supply of iPhones. Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant is the world’s largest iPhone production base, producing 70% of iPhones and 80% of the iPhone 14 series worldwide. Here, in accordance with the Corona 19 quarantine measures last month, workers living in the factory escaped together, disrupting the operation of the factory. The company has been gradually normalizing production activities by recruiting new workers and encouraging existing workers to return, but if workers leave again, the rate of normalization may slow. Bloomberg News reported that the incident could further disrupt iPhone production at the Zhengzhou factory.
Foxconn plans to fully normalize operations at its Zhengzhou factory by the end of this month. A Foxconn spokesperson told Bloomberg News that “it may take time, but we will replace departing employees with new ones.” Apple is also said to have dispatched an employee to the location to resolve the situation. Apple said in a statement that “team members at the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou are reviewing the situation” and that it is “working closely with Foxconn to address employee concerns.”
