Eyewitness videos have emerged of workers protesting in the Chinese region of Zhengzhou, at the colloquially-named iPhone City where Apple’s largest iPhone factory is located, operated by Foxconn. The region has endured periodic lockdowns. As a consequence, Foxconn’s workers have been unable to leave their workplaces for weeks at a time. While the situation appears to have quietened down earlier today, such civil unrest is unusual in China.
Production of iPhones has already encountered delays due to months of zero covid policies. Foxconn workers have been promised bonuses to meet production targets but many claim those had not been paid, adding to the discontent. There is commentary that the protestors have dispersed following payments being made and some being allowed to return to their homes.
Police attempting to quell these protests are clothed in white suits. That the protests endured for most of the day and into the night is unusual in China.
According to Jennifer Zeng, a well-known US-based commentator on China & the CCP, 20 buses of armed police were transferred from Luoyang City to stop the protestors.
Foxconn’s workers are housed in dormitories on-site and have been prevented from returning home each time the region is locked down for covid cases. Many have already taken to walking off the job, with video having emerged earlier this month of people climbing over high fences with their luggage, to walk hundreds of kilometres home or hitch rides from passing motorists. During such lockdowns, all the workers’ mobile phones would have had their tracing QR codes switched to red status. This means those workers would not have been able to use public transport.
Apple commented on Sunday that, “The facility is currently operating at significantly reduced capacity,” without detailing the scale of the reduction.
“We continue to see strong demand for iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models. However, we now expect lower iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max shipments than we previously anticipated,” it said in a statement.
