Worker unrest at Apple supplier’s China plant

People describing themselves as Foxconn workers pulled down barriers and argued with authorities at a Covid-hit plant in the industrial Chinese city of Zhengzhou that belongs to Apple Inc’s supplier, scenes broadcast live on the Kuaishou short video platform show.

The videos showed more than a hundred people coming face to face with dozens of officials, whom they said were police.

Some videos showed workers complaining about the food they had been provided, while others said they had not been paid bonuses as promised.

Reuters was not immediately able to verify the authenticity of the videos. Foxconn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Zhengzhou plant is the world’s largest iphone factory, with some 200,000 workers. Since late October, many workers have fled, their escapes captured on social media, as frustration mounted over how Covid cases were handled and over the treatment of employees, including what they said were insufficient provisions of food.

In a bid to restore production, the manufacturer began a drive to convince workers to stay and to recruit more staff, promising higher per-hour salaries and bonuses.