China: Why employees who make iPhones in the country are protesting
Workers told the BBC they had not been paid their promised wages.
Videos posted on the Internet show a protest on Wednesday (23/11) by hundreds of workers at the largest iPhone factory in the world, located in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou and owned by the company Foxconn. Around 200,000 people work there.
In the images, it is possible to see that police and people in protective suits are trying to contain the demonstrations with violence. In others, people who took part in the acts are seen smashing surveillance cameras and windows.
An employee who had recently started work at the factory told the BBC that workers were protesting because Foxconn had "changed the promised contract".
Foxconn, Apple's supplier, changed its tone from Wednesday to Thursday and issued a new statement apologizing for a "technical error" in its payments system.
A person heard by the BBC said that there are no more protests this Thursday (24/11) and that she and her colleagues returned to work at the factory.
The day before, the Taiwanese company said it would comply with the payment based on what the contracts said ( read more details below ).
Another reason for the protests, according to reports, is that newly hired people feared contracting Covid from employees who had been in the factory's living quarters during the previous outbreak.
Last month, the increase in cases of covid caused the unit to be closed for isolation, prompting some workers to flee the site and return home. The company then recruited new employees with the promise of a generous bonus.
Footage streamed live on a website shows workers shouting: "Stand up for our rights! Stand up for our rights!"
"They changed the contract so we couldn't get the subsidy as they had promised. They quarantine us but don't provide food," a Foxconn employee says during the broadcast.
"If they don't meet our needs, we'll keep fighting."
Foxconn employee on the day of the protest
The person in the video also claims to have seen a man "severely injured" after being assaulted by police.
Another person who has just joined the company's staff told the BBC that he saw "a man with blood on his head lying on the ground" during the protest.
"I didn't know the exact reason for the protest, but they are mixing new workers with old workers who have tested positive [for Covid]," he told the BBC.
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Foxconn made a new statement this Thursday (24/11) in which it states that the payments were not made due to a "technical error that occurred during an integrated process". Protesters said that the company had not complied with the agreement.
The company said the pay was the same as stated on new worker recruiting posters and that it was in contact with affected employees about pay and bonuses to "actively address concerns and reasonable demands from employees".
An official interviewed by the BBC said he had since received 8,000 yuan (R$6,000) and would receive another 2,000 yuan.
On Wednesday, in an earlier statement, Foxconn said some workers had doubts about the amount of the subsidy, but that the company would meet the payment based on contracts and would work with its staff and the local government to prevent further violence.
The company also said reports that new hires were asked to share dorms with colleagues who contracted Covid were "clearly false" rumours.
According to Foxconn, the dormitories were disinfected and checked by local authorities before new people occupied the premises.
The Taiwanese company is Apple's main subcontractor, and its factory in Zhengzhou assembles more iPhones than anywhere else in the world.
In late October, many workers fled the factory amid a rise in Covid cases and allegations of mistreatment of employees.
On social media, images circulated of workers returning in trucks to their hometowns.
Since then, the company has decided to implement so-called "closed-loop operations". The factory has been kept isolated from the wider part of Zhengzhou city because of a covid outbreak.
Earlier this month, Apple said it was expecting smaller shipments of iPhone 14 models due to the production halt in Zhengzhou.
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