Foxconn on China factory violence: ‘New recruits not housed with Covid+ staff’

Foxconn confirmed overnight "violence" at its iPhone factory in Zhengzhou in central China. The Taiwanese tech giant vowed to "avoid similar incidents" in the future in a statement saying that workers had complained about pay and conditions at the plant.

The tech giant, however, denied it had housed new recruits with Covid-positive staff.

Earlier, it was reported that hundreds of workers at Apple’s main iPhone-making plant in China clashed with security personnel. The clash took place as tensions boiled over after almost a month under strict restrictions intended to stem a Covid outbreak.

Read more: Video: Workers clash with security personnel at biggest iPhone plant in China

Workers at the Foxconn plant came out of dormitories, pushing guards, according to videos widely shared on social media. Several workers also surrounded an occupied police car and began rocking the vehicle while screaming incoherently, Bloomberg reported.

The protest started overnight over unpaid wages and fears of spreading infection and several workers were injured in the demonstrations as anti-riot police arrived on the scene to restore order, the report added.

The rare instances of violence occurred as many among the vast workforce of more than 200,000 at the iPhone factory have been plunged into isolation, forced to subsist on frugal meals.