Apple is mulling moving its production efforts out of China after COVID lockdown protests in the country have hampered its reputation as a stable manufacturing centre.
Apple’s manufacturing partner, Foxconn has a sprawling plant Zhengzhou, some 400 miles south west of Beijing, and the site saw a wave of uncharacteristic anti-government protests in light of new COVID lockdowns. Some 300,000 staff work at the site and, at one point, around 85 per cent of its Pro line-up of iPhones were built at the site.
Staff were reportedly barred from leaving the huge campus, some sleeping in warehouses to avoid being locked out at random. Others were forced into quarantine in sealed-off dorm rooms with up to half a dozen colleagues, all of whom were unsure whether any or all of them had COVID.
One worker said that he had been living in the warehouse for half a month and used “wood board and fibreboard as a bed and throw in my duvet.”
As a result, many workers fled the campus and, with iPhone typically accelerating in the run-up to Christmas, Foxconn is struggling to fulfil its orders. This led to Foxconn hiring thousands of temporary staff through the local government. However, the company registered these employees under the terms it normally uses for longer term staff. This meant lower pay, which led to protests that had to be forcefully put down by the police.
To get rid of fed up employees, Foxconn reportedly offered around AU$2,000 in severance pay — an offer taken up by more than 15,000 staff.
Staff were also filmed throwing items around and shouting “Stand up for your rights!”
This level of disruption has not played well with Apple. The iPhone manufacturer is looking to accelerate plans to move its manufacturing operations away from China to countries around Asia, Vietnam and India, in particular.
Around 40-45 per cent of iPhone production is slated for India while Vietnam is expected to produce most of Apple’s other products including AirPods, Apple Watches, and its laptops.
The fact that Apple has finally been dissuaded from manufacturing its goods in China over worker riots and supply chain issues — not the longstanding reports of Foxconn employees killing themselves rather than working and the nets strung between factory buildings to catch workers falling to their deaths.
Still, the Californian brand makes good ads.
