Men broke surveillance cameras and clashed with police as hundreds of workers protested at the world's largest iPhone plant in the city of Zhengzhou on Wednesday.
The workers said on video circulated on social media that they had been informed that Foxconn intended to delay bonus payments.
TAIPEI: Apple's key supplier Foxconn said on Thursday a "technical error" occurred while hiring new recruits at a COVID-hit iPhone factory in China and the company apologized to employees following fresh labor unrest.
Hundreds of workers protested at the world's largest iPhone plant in the city of Zhengzhou on Wednesday, men smashing surveillance cameras and clashing with police, in rare scenes of open dissent in China over frustration over overdue pay and severe COVID-19 restrictions. Sprung from the claims.
The workers said on video circulating on social media that they had been informed that Foxconn wanted to delay bonus payments. Some workers also complained that they were forced to share dormitories with colleagues who had tested positive for COVID.
"Our team is investigating the matter and a technical error occurred during the onboarding process," Foxconn said in a statement.
"We apologize for an input error in the computer system and guarantee that the actual salary is agreed and identical to the official recruitment posters."
The largest protest had ended by Thursday and the company was in communication with employees engaged in smaller protests, a Foxconn source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The person said the company had reached a "preliminary agreement" with workers to resolve the dispute and production at the plant continued on Thursday.
The Taiwanese company said it would respect the wishes of new recruits who want to resign and leave the factory premises, and would offer them a "care subsidy".
In videos circulating online on Wednesday, some workers complained they were never sure whether they would get food while in quarantine at the sprawling industrial complex in central Henan province.
One person said, "Foxconn never treats humans as humans."
China on Wednesday reported a record 31,444 new daily cases of locally acquired COVID, exceeding the previous peak of 29,317 on April 13.
fall in stocks
Foxconn shares fell 0.5% on Thursday morning, while the broader market gained 0.5%.
More than 200,000 people are employed at the Zhengzhou plant, which makes Apple Inc devices including the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.
Apple said it had workers at the factory and was "working closely with Foxconn to ensure that their workers' concerns are addressed". The factory accounts for 70% of iPhone shipments globally.
Reuters previously reported that iPhone production at the Zhengzhou factory could fall as much as 30% in November following worker unrest last month, and that Foxconn aims to resume full production there by the second half of the month. Apple has warned that it expects fewer shipments of premium iPhone 14 models than previously anticipated. Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives expects the shutdown to cost Apple about $1 billion a week in iPhone sales.
The factory has had labor unrest and discontent since October mainly due to strict quarantine rules, repeated COVID outbreaks and poor conditions including food shortages.
Some workers fled the premises rather than submit to Foxconn's so-called closed loop system, which requires workers to live and work on site and isolate themselves from the outside world.
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