As part of its efforts to allay employee resentment at the facility over COVID limitations, Apple supplier Foxconn is reportedly giving bonuses to employees at its Zhengzhou plant in central China, according to media outlets supported by the Chinese government.
Between Oct. 26 and Nov. 11, daily bonuses for employees of a Foxconn unit that manufactures electronics including smartphones at the facility have been increased to 100 yuan ($13.70), according to a report in the Henan Daily newspaper on Monday. The head of the company's integrated digital product business group unit was not named.
The organization, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, is also awarding a bonus of 50 yuan per day to every worker at the site who has reported to work consistently since Oct. 19 and followed virus prevention procedures, the source added.
The Henan Daily requested Foxconn for a comment but the company has not responded.
The Henan Daily is the official newspaper of the Henan province, whose capital city is Zhengzhou.
Foxconn is Apple's top iPhone manufacturer, contributing 70% of all iPhone shipments worldwide. Although it has additional smaller production facilities in south China and India, its Zhengzhou facility is where it builds the majority of its phones and employs roughly 200,000 people. Numerous employees left the site over the weekend as a result of the Zhengzhou plant's unrest over the strict measures taken to stop the spread of COVID-19.
According to a source cited on Monday, the plant's November iPhone production could decline by as much as 30% as a result of the situation, and Foxconn was attempting to increase output at a different factory in the city of Shenzhen to make up for the deficit.
According to a worker who requested anonymity, workers began fleeing the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou after some were unwell in the middle of October but received no medical attention. He claimed that although Foxconn now requires face masks and everyday disinfects in the workplace, business as usual is maintained. "There are still people getting infected at the assembly lines, and they are still worried about going to work," the employee said.
Foxconn said in a statement that it employs "closed-loop management" in Zhengzhou, which is a formal term for having workers live in and have no interaction with the outside world. Three meals a day, according to the company. The start date of the measures was not specified.
