Following a worker revolt during a Covid lockdown, Apple supplier Foxconn claims to have increased daily bonuses at a sizable iPhone production in China.
The company has announced a 400 yuan ($54.90; £47.70) per day increase in bonuses for assembly line workers at its manufacturing facility in Zhengzhou, central China.
A video from the weekend saw individuals scaling a fence outside the factory.
The strict zero-Covid policy of Chinese President Xi Jinping is still causing problems for the country’s citizens and enterprises.
Foxconn also announced on the WeChat social media platform that the maximum bonus for employees who put in more than 25 days per month at the biggest iPhone factory in the world would increase to 5,000 yuan from 1,500 yuan.
A total incentive of more than 15,000 yuan might be granted to individuals who put in their “full effort” in November without taking any time off, it was noted.
The company stated that the bonuses were given in an effort to “gradually resume orderly production” and to “appreciate the perseverance of our coworkers.”
For Foxconn, which is now producing the new iPhone 14 for Apple, the lockout comes at a crucial time.
At its Zhengzhou complex, the Taiwanese company Foxconn, a significant supplier to Apple in the US, employs hundreds of thousands of people.
It still hasn’t given a precise estimate of how many individuals at the plant contracted the coronavirus.
Foxconn reported last Wednesday that a “limited number” of Zhengzhou workers had been “hit by the pandemic” and were receiving “material supplies, psychological comfort, and relevant feedback.”
The operating prognosis for this quarter is unaltered, it was said, as “the epidemic prevention work in Zhengzhou is now continuing smoothly, and the impact on the group is manageable.
However, video posted on Chinese social media and shared by the BBC’s China reporter Stephen McDonnell suggested that employees may have fled the premises to start long journeys back to their homes in an effort to avoid being seen on public transportation.
One employee, identified only as Xia, 22, told the Financial Times that the dormitories where he and other employees were housed were “complete mayhem.”
Workers reportedly said that the vicinity of the company had been under lockdown for days, with Covid-positive employees being tested for every day in an effort to limit the infection.
Foxconn announced on Sunday that it would stop requiring staff at the manufacturing facility to have meals in their rooms in order to “increase the convenience and satisfaction of employees’ lives.”
It further stated that it was collaborating with the neighborhood administration to offer a “point-to-point orderly return service” for staff members who desired to return home.
Authorities have partially closed down Zhengzhou, a city of about 10 million people, as they continue to enact the nation’s stringent zero-Covid policy.
Coronavirus outbreaks have recently affected other enterprises in China.
Nio, a Chinese manufacturer of electric vehicles, stated on Wednesday that it has halted operations at two of its plants in the eastern city of Hefei, which would have an impact on deliveries and output.
The company announced earlier this week that it delivered more than 10,000 automobiles in October.
According to the statement, the numbers were “limited by operational difficulties in our operations as well as supply chain volatility resulting from the Covid-19 problems in some locations of China.”