Anti-quarantine protests erupt at China’s largest iPhone factory

Workers at the main iPhone manufacturing plant in Chinalocated in Zhengzhou (center), clashed with security officials after living under tight restrictions for nearly a month due to the resurgence of COVID-19, according to images posted on various social media platforms.

Factory workers foxconnTaiwanese supplier to American Apple and one of the main assemblers iPhoneleft their homes at dawn pushing guards dressed in PPE suits, according to videos played on platforms like Twitter banned on China.

Workers were beaten by some guards as crowds tried to force their way through the barricades and protested wages, food during the lockdown, or rubbish piled up.

In October, Chinese netizens were outraged by footage of workers carrying their belongings jumping over factory fences and walking down the roads to their place of origin due to a partial shutdown of public transport in the city.

Shortly before the employee exodus, the company denied rumors that 20,000 of the plant’s roughly 350,000 workers had been infected with COVID-19.

After the flight of the workers foxconn he announced daily wage increases to attract employees and bonuses to bring back those who left.

According to the local press, the plant needs to hire about 10,000 workers to normalize the production chain.

The workers were then notified that they must remain in hotel quarantine for a week, and only after that, and after receiving negative results from several PCR tests, could they enter the facilities.

Imprisonment and poor living conditions

Since 2020, large factories in China how foxconn in Zhengzhou, they have responded to outbreaks in nearby areas by establishing a “closed loop” that isolates workers for long periods of time at facilities to avoid outside contamination and maintain production, which has sometimes sparked protests over poor health conditions. or lack of food.

China continues to adhere to the zero covid policy, which consists of isolating all those infected and their close contacts, strict border controls, movement restrictions, and massive PCR testing campaigns wherever a case is found. (EFE)