Foxconn, Apple's largest manufacturing partner in China, has been having some issues recently. The company's Zhengzhou plant, which houses the biggest iPhone manufacturing facility in the world, has been brought to a halt because of a riot situation involving the employees over wages.
Now Apple seems to have stepped up. The company has issued a statement, and it seems to be working with Foxconn to address and solve the employees' issues.
Apple steps in to settle payment dispute
In a statement released by Apple, the company said, "We have Apple team members on the ground at our supplier Foxconn’s Zhengzhou facility. We are reviewing the situation and working closely with Foxconn to ensure their employees’ concerns are addressed." according to a South China Morning Post report.
The riots had seen Foxconn employees smash security cameras and clash with security personnel. The situation reportedly occurred due to a missing bonus payment. Foxconn released a statement blaming the issue on a technical error and promised to fulfill the payments.
The company had said in a recent statement, "Our team has been looking into the matter and discovered a technical error occurred during the onboarding process. We apologize for an input error in the computer system and guarantee that the actual pay is the same as agreed and the official recruitment posters."
The clashes had escalated, with riot police being deployed to contain the violent outbreak. The issue has to do with employees hired to fill the gap left by workers feeling the factory during the COVID outbreak in the facility back in October. Foxconn had promised 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) to each of these new employees if they chose to leave and failed to fulfill the promise, leading to these riots.
In any case, this should further affect Apple's already slowed down iPhone production. The company's best iPhones now have long wait times, and this event is likely to lengthen those further. Apple didn't comment on it, but we should see the effect of this incident, or the lack thereof, on iPhone delivery timelines in the coming weeks.
