Apple supplier Foxconn apologises for hiring blunder at COVID-hit China plant
TAIPEI/SHANGHAI (MNP) – Apple s major supplier Foxconn (2317.TW) said on Thursday a “technical error” occurred when hiring new recruits at a COVID-hit iPhone factory in China and apologised to workers after the company was rocked by fresh labour unrest.
Men smashed surveillance cameras and clashed with security personnel as hundreds of workers protested at the world s biggest iPhone plant in Zhengzhou city on Wednesday, in rare scenes of open dissent in China sparked by claims of overdue pay and frustration over severe COVID-19 restrictions.
Workers said on videos circulated on social media that they had been informed that Foxconn intended to delay bonus payments. Some workers also complained they were forced to share dormitories with colleagues who had tested positive for COVID.
“Our team has been looking into the matter and discovered a technical error occurred during the onboarding process,” Foxconn said in a statement, referring to the hiring of new workers.
“We apologize for an input error in the computer system and guarantee that the actual pay is the same as agreed and the official recruitment posters.”
The latest unrest has exposed communication problems and a mistrust of Foxconn management among some staff, with some workers accusing the company of not acting effectively to curb the spread of COVID and then misleading them over wages.
Foxconn s apology on Thursday was an about-face from a day earlier when it said it had fulfilled its payment contracts.
The largest protests had died down by Thursday and the company was communicating with employees engaged in smaller protests, a Foxconn source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The person said the company had reached “initial agreements” with employees to resolve the dispute and production at the plant continued on Thursday.
The Taiwanese company said it would respect the wishes of new recruits who wanted to resign and leave the factory campus, and would offer them “care subsidies”. A screenshot of a message to employees from Foxconn, and seen by Reuters, showed the subsidies amounted to 10,000 yuan ($1,400) per worker.
Zhengzhou announced on Wednesday that it would conduct mass coronavirus testing as China reported a record 31,444 new daily cases of locally acquired COVID.
