China has carried out several lockdowns to try to contain a new wave of Covid-19 in the country and the latest blockade at a Foxconn factory has caused anger among workers.
This is because many complain that the company has took advantage of the situation to increase the workloadas employees are now forced to sleep inside factory dormitories.
According to complaints sent to the Wall Street Journal, all workers are forced to move to the factory, with the most problematic situation happening at the Zhengzhou plant.
At the plant, some workers, desperate with the situation inside the factory, went to the extreme of trying to escape by jumping over the fence.
See in the video below:
Workers have broken out of #Apple‘s largest assembly site, escaping the Zero #Covid lockdown at Foxconn in #Zhengzhou. After sneaking out, they’re walking to home towns more than 100 kilometers away to beat the Covid app measures designed to control people and stop this. #China pic.twitter.com/NHjOjclAyU
— Stephen McDonell (@StephenMcDonell) October 30, 2022
According to internal reports, Foxconn tried several times to calm the spirits of employees, but it was too late. That’s because many workers complain that the company is using the rigidity of the Covid zero policy to increase the workload.
The company even used megaphones to warn employees trying to flee that bonuses would increase fivefold if they stayed.
Another problem that has been reported further increases the revolt of employees, since many are working normally, even having the positive diagnosis for Covid-19.
This mixture of sick and healthy employees, in addition to trying to expand production, aims to seek a “herd immunity”.
To avoid further scandal, the Chinese government has made buses available to transport employees who fled the factory back home. Foxconn has not commented on the matter.
