Workers at China’s largest iPhone assembly plant were seen confronting police, some in riot gear, on Wednesday, according to videos shared on social media.
Videos show hundreds of workers confronting law enforcement officers, many in white hazmat suits, at the Foxconn campus in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou. In the footage, which has now been blocked, some of the protesters could be heard protesting about their pay and sanitary conditions.
The scenes come days after Chinese state media reported that more than 100,000 people had registered to fill positions advertised as part of a massive recruitment drive for Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory.
Apple ( AAPL ) faces major supply chain constraints at its assembly facilities and expects iPhone 14 shipments to take a hit once the key holiday shopping season begins. CNN has reached out to the company for comment on the situation at the plant.
A Covid outbreak last month forced the site to lock down, leading some worried factory workers to reportedly leave.
Videos of scores of people fleeing Zhengzhou on foot went viral on Chinese social media earlier in November, prompting Foxconn to step up measures to get its staff back. To try to limit the impact, the company said it had quadrupled daily bonuses for factory workers this month.
On Wednesday, workers were heard on video saying that Foxconn did not keep their promise of an attractive bonus and pay package after they arrived to work at the factory. Many complaints have also been posted anonymously on social media platforms – accusing Foxconn of changing previously advertised salary packages.
In a statement in English, Foxconn said on Wednesday that “the allowance is always fulfilled based on a contractual obligation” after some new hires at the Foxconn campus in Zhengzhou appealed to the company about the labor allowance on Tuesday.
In the videos, workers were also heard complaining about insufficient measures against Covid, saying that workers who tested positive were not separated from the rest of the workforce.
Foxconn said in the English statement that online speculation about Covid-positive employees living in dormitories at the Foxconn campus in Zhengzhou is “obviously untrue.”
“Prior to the entry of new recruits, the dormitory environment undergoes standard procedures for disinfection, and only after the government inspection of the facility passes, new employees are allowed to move in,” Foxconn said.
Searches for the term “Foxconn” on Chinese social media now return few results, a sign of heavy censorship.
“Regarding violent behaviors, the company will continue to communicate with employees and the government to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents,” Foxconn said in a statement in Chinese.
The Zhengzhou facility is the largest iPhone assembly site in the world. It typically accounts for about 50% to 60% of Foxconn’s global iPhone assembly capacity, according to Mirko Woitzik, global director of information solutions at Everstream, a supply chain risk analytics provider.
Apple warned earlier this month of the disruption to its supply chain, saying customers would feel an impact.
“We now expect lower iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max shipments than we previously expected,” the tech giant said in a statement. “Customers will experience longer wait times to receive their new products.”
As of last week, the wait time for those models had reached 34 days in the United States, according to a UBS report.
Public frustration has grown under China’s relentless zero-Covid policy, which continues to include strict lockdowns and travel restrictions nearly three years after the pandemic.
Last week, that sentiment came to the fore as social media footage showed residents under lockdown in Guangzhou breaking down barriers meant to confine them to their homes and taking to the streets in defiance of strictly enforced local orders.
— Michelle Toh, Simone McCarthy, Wayne Chang, Juliana Liu and Kathleen Magramo contributed to this report.
