Foxconn, the most important center for the production of iPhones in revolt: the protest is harshly repressed by the police

A protest organized by employees of the largest and most important iPhone factory – Foxconn ‘s Zhengzhou plant – was violently repressed by Chinese authorities. Workers had asked for greater wage protections and a stop to invasive tests against Covid.

Several videos of the harsh crackdown by law enforcement have been circulated online. Some of the videos show police charges against workers.

Already last month, several thousand employees had chosen to leave the factory voluntarily during working hours, in protest against working conditions deemed unsafe.

According to a reconstruction published by the Associated Press, the protests this time would have arisen from a unilateral modification of the contracts which would have, in fact, significantly reduced the hourly wages of some employees. Li Sanshan, a worker joined by AP, explained that he had abandoned his previous job in the restaurant business because he was attracted by a job offer from Foxconn which included a salary of 25,000 yuan – about 3,500 euros – for a two-month period of work . Sanshan recently learned that he would have to work for at least two more months – for a total of four – before he was eligible for the 25,000 yuan bonus.

Zhengzhou is Foxconn’s most important plant: it employs 200,000 people and is the largest center for iPhone production.