Employees at the world’s largest iPhone factory located in China are suffering from food shortages among employees isolated as a result of coronavirus measures. The New York Times report stated that the closure procedures caused a wave of fear and unrest at the factory, indicating that “large numbers of workers left the facility.”
The plant was closed in mid-October due to a rise in coronavirus cases in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province. This is in line with China’s coronavirus containment policy, which imposes strict measures on cities and businesses to eliminate transmission of the virus.
The iPhone factory is run by Foxconn, a Taiwanese manufacturing giant with facilities across China.
When cases of coronavirus infection began to be discovered at the factory, Foxconn cut off the iPhone factory from the outside world, which led to the detention of about 200,000 workers inside the enterprise. He banned eating in the factory canteen, forced employees to take long walks down winding lanes from their dorms to reduce contact with others, and ordered daily coronavirus and temperature checks.
However, reports provided by employees who were quarantined after testing positive for coronavirus have worried workers. Some of them said they do not get enough or no food at all when they do not have other necessities.
As these stories circulated on social media, other workers decided to leave their jobs as it would be better for them to risk contracting the Corona virus and quarantine them than to be left in factories without food.
The two workers, who spoke to The New York Times on condition of anonymity, feared retribution from the company as hundreds of workers left the factory.
Faced with the reality of escaping, many of those who left had no choice but to walk to their homes, some of them long distances, due to traffic restrictions as part of Zhengzhou city’s Corona outbreak containment measures.
The “corona zero” approach has been promoted by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who last month won a third term as China’s leader. The policy, marked by hard lockdowns and quarantines, has led to entire cities being shut down due to low numbers of cases.
Zhengzhou officials on Wednesday ordered the area around the facility to be closed for seven days, jeopardizing any further escape attempts. Describing the outbreak as “serious and complex,” the city reported 358 new cases on Wednesday, up from 24 on the same day a week earlier.
And Reuters said authorities closed the Shanghai Disney Resort on Monday after an outbreak of 10 coronavirus cases in Shanghai.
Apple, the iPhone maker, did not respond to The New York Times’ request for comment. Foxconn has called its pandemic response a “protracted battle” and has insisted that its workers get three meals a day.
But employees have accused Foxconn of sending workers who test positive for the coronavirus to quarantine centers with key contacts, even if those people tested negative.
In the meantime, other close contacts have been ordered to keep working, with the New York Times noting that workers are blaming the company for messing up the file.
Liu Lin, 29, who works at the factory, described what was happening inside as “an atmosphere of panic” as the factory lost its ability to isolate important contacts with people with the coronavirus.
Zhengzhou, with a population of 10 million, has helped improve China’s export-led economic model over the years. The city is known as iPhone City and produces about half of Apple’s worldwide iPhone shipments.
According to the New York Times, the seven-day shutdown announced on Wednesday could hurt Foxconn’s ability to ship iPhones from the factory. The Chinese economy as a whole is growing at its slowest pace in decades as part of the government’s “zero Covid” policy.
In a sign of Foxconn’s concern about the flight, the company last week began offering them an extra $14 a day to keep them going. That figure increased to $55 a day on Tuesday, according to an official announcement.
Initially, Foxconn did not allow its workers to leave the facility, but as public outcry on social media escalated, the company relented.
One worker told the New York Times that it was unclear whether those who quit would keep their jobs or be paid for the work they did.
The daughter of Foxconn employee Gao Mingjun revealed that her mother did not have a crown, but the factory quarantined her with a colleague sleeping on the bed above her. This employee was later confirmed to have coronavirus.
Her mother decided to walk the 38 miles to her home in Xuchang around 5:00 pm Saturday to exit the main gate of the facility with about 100 workers. Gao described her mother’s trip as “very long”, explaining that she would “definitely not be returning to Foxconn”.
Reuters reported that China’s National Health Committee said on Thursday that there were 3,372 new cases of coronavirus in the country on Nov. 2, including 581 with symptoms and 2,791 without symptoms.
The day before, 2,928 new infections were reported in China, of which 465 were symptomatic and 2,463 were asymptomatic. No new deaths were recorded in the country, so the toll remained at 5,226. As of November 2, mainland China has reported 261,552 symptomatic cases of the coronavirus.
And Reuters reported in late October last year that cities in central China hurriedly prepared plans to isolate workers who had returned to them from one of Foxconn’s huge iPhone factories, fearing they would spark a Covid outbreak. -19.
Late Saturday, cities near Zhengzhou, including Liuzhou, Chan and others, urged Foxconn workers to inform local authorities before they head home.
The said cities have said in separate messages on their social media accounts to Foxconn workers in Zhengzhou that returning workers will travel “non-stop directly” in vehicles pre-equipped for their journey and will be placed in sanitary isolation upon arrival.
“The government has agreed to resume eating in canteens to improve employee comfort and satisfaction,” Foxconn told Reuters on Sunday in response to email inquiries.
Foxconn did not respond to questions from Reuters about the number of infections detected at the Zhengzhou plant and the number of workers who have quit.