Riots At The World's Largest IPhone Factory, Delivery Of IPhone 14 Can Post?

Labor riots at the iPhone factory, Foxconn. (Photo; Doc. Twitter video screenshot @Wallstreetsilv)

JAKARTA The workers staged a massive demonstration at the world's largest iPhone supplier company, Foxconn, last night. The factory located in Zhengzhou China is Apple's important partner to manufacture and supply their newest iPhone to the market.

From a video circulating on social media, the protesting workers were seen being beaten and stepped on by officers wearing hazmat clothes, November 25, 2022. The riots are heating up at Foxconn, causing delays in shipments of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.

The clashes between Foxconn's workers and riot police in hazmat clothes and batons occurred when workers protested the benefits promised by the company but were not paid. At the same time, the Covid-19 outbreak has increased dramatically in China since last October. For information, the workers are Foxconn's new recruit who has only been working for a few months.

Previously, Foxconn promised allowances worth 10,000 yuan or 1,400 US dollars (equivalent to Rp22 million) to new workers if they decided to leave the factory. Several new workers plan to leave and take the funds. But the company never paid the promised allowance. The rebellion began last Tuesday 22 November.

In response to protests at the world's largest iPhone supplier company, Apple is working with its partners to address workers' complaints that led to violent acts at Foxconn's factories.

We have members of the Apple team on the pitch at our Zhengzhou supplier facility Foxconn. We are reviewing the situation and working with Foxconn to ensure their employee concerns are addressed, "According to a statement from Apple, quoted from SCMP.

Apple did not specify the extent to which the latest workers' uprising would delay the newly released iPhone 14 shipment, given the holiday shopping season is imminent. It said in a statement earlier this month, following the initial exodus of workers from the plant, that there would be a "lower iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max delivery" as the plant "operated at significantly reduced capacity".

Foxconn operates in Henan province, Zhengzhou, China. The iPhone plant exported 8.4 million phones last October. This figure is down 16.9 percent per month, based on Chinese customs data. Meanwhile, another Foxconn plant located in Jiangsu experienced an export surge of about 31 percent in October.

The riots at the Foxconn plant are expected to affect global iPhone production by about 10 percent. Not only riots, but the region must also face an increase in Covid-19 cases.