# Zhengzhou Foxconn exodus: 3 points to highlight

The city of Zhengzhou in Henan Province experienced a pandemic lockdown in October. Things spiraled afterwards. In the Zhengzhou Foxconn factory, the main manufacturing plant of iPhones, as pandemic cases piled up, month-long confusions and fear culminated into an exodus of tens of thousands of workers. Some even walked hundreds of kilometers back to their hometowns on foot. Foxconn, anxious to recuperate from the sudden loss of workers, rolled out significantly higher compensations for workers who stayed or applied for production-line positions.

However, the emergency measures didn’t seem good enough to appease employees. For instance, dormitory rooms were still lacking, which meant workers would need to share rooms with Covid-positive colleagues. This led to the eruption of unrest from newly recruited workers. Also, the compensations weren’t seemingly done in good faith. For instance, the alleged bonus promised to workers was suddenly conditional to a longer working period. At the end, a 2-day riot ensued. Workers were either arrested or sent off by the company with a one-off payment.

As newer consequences never stopped to unfold, conclusions are probably still too early to be drawn. But concentrating on the worker flee in the beginning, as well as the working environment where the discontent brewed, a few aspects should be noted.

## What’s Inducing Fear, Pandemic or the Pandemic Measures?
In an [interview](https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/it/2022-11-01/doc-imqmmthc2858542.shtml), a managerial staff was eager to describe the flee as fear-induced, somewhat irrational, and a result of rumors spreading among workers. “They thought they had a high chance of contracting Covid, and that it would be similar to those who get infected in 2020 – feeling terrible, suffering from long-Covid, and possibly die.”

It might be true that some of them had an exaggerated fear of contracting the virus, which reflected outdated knowledge about the already weakened variants. However it mostly did not seem to be the case. Fleeing workers were equally fearful of the potential disruptions to their lives if they got quarantined. As a worker [recalled](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Mx5mCploY1nt5iGw0lPHFA?), “The first day I was quarantined, I did not get a meal until afternoon … on the second day we finally had meal boxes, but they had gone bad. However we were so starved that we ate them anyway. Later on, the meals were never on time, sometimes at 8am, sometimes we didn't get one until 1pm … it’s from the meals and piling trash that I realized that the factory did not have enough pandemic personnel … furthermore I saw the situation of other co-workers from my chat group: some were taken to quarantine in the middle of work, some had a fever but got no medicines, etc.” The factory, which had over 200 thousand employees, was reported to be underprepared for such an outbreak. This was admitted by the above-mentioned manager as well. Complicated by fragmentary information from the management, fear was enhanced by rumors spreading across worker chat rooms. “At the time [of quarantine] I was hoping that I could be quarantined forever – don’t take me back to work. Being in an open area would be more dangerous. I’m not afraid of contracting [Covid-19] – I know it is less harmful than it used to be. I’m afraid that after contracting it no one will take care of me, and no one will be responsible for my well being.”

Those who were not required to quarantine had their lives disrupted to some extent as well. The “close-loop” system was applied, which required all personnel to have separate rooms to work, eat, travel and sleep, such that physical interactions between employees were confined to the few persons they shared a room with. This resulted in extra hours of walking every day, because workers were required to have lunch in their dormitories and they had to walk back through a designated separate path arranged by the company. According to the worker quoted above, “the Foxconn plant is so large, that through the closed-loop pedestrian path we had to walk an hour minimum for a round trip, and even longer for those who rent a flat outside the plant.” This was on top of a workplace where “on a segment of the assembly line, which is supposed to have 18 workers, you may show up one day and only find 4 workers, without anyone telling you where the other 14 had gone.” Thus, a sense of fear fermented among employees.

## Seasonal Production and its Implications on Labour Conditions
The labor practice of iPhone manufacturer was again brought to forefront. After years of scrutiny Foxconn seemed to have adjusted its practice, that a nickname “Pension-conn” (Yanglaokang) – an ode to its moderate salary for relatively light work, just like pension receivers – had been prevalent in online discussion boards. An [interview](https://www.time-weekly.com/post/296773) with a regular employee showed a more nuanced picture. Wages were predominantly dependent on overtime pay, and were therefore much lower when production orders were cut. “Unlike previous years when I can make 6,000-7,000 Yuan monthly in peak seasons, my income is lower and more unstable now.” He further added that when iPhone 13 mini orders were cut last year, his monthly income dropped to 4000 Yuan even during peak season.

Production of iPhones concentrated in the final 5 months of the year, and so did the recruitment of workers. Since 2016, intakes of short-term, agency dispatched workers became common, and a “bonus” system applies for workers who can finish the 3-month contract period. This kind of dispatched workers can amount to [70% of the whole production force](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/NWgHD-2oVBV2RVtb4rDUmw) during peak season, way above the 10% legal ceiling – a regulation seldom enforced by the authorities, and thus commonly breached in the manufacturing industries.

In fact, the wage was only attractive if the workers get the “bonus” – that way the average wage in the 3 months would be above 6000 Yuan monthly, as compared to around 5000 Yuan in most factories around the province. Within the 3 months they would have to endure 11-hour workdays, and up to 13 days of work before they got a rest day. “Including bonuses, working in Foxconn earned better than most jobs in Zhengzhou. However, considering the working hours, the wage isn’t proportional (to the work) … The assembly line can’t stop, you can’t take a break unless your manager fills your spot for a while” A worker said.

## Perpetual Relocation & Automation – What do they Change?
In order to cut production costs, Foxconn, like most electronic manufacturers, had a history of geographical relocations. The company’s decade-long shift from coastal cities to inland provinces had distributed plants across a number of inland cities, including the likes of Chengdu, Changsha, Taiyuan. The largest of them, the Zhengzhou plant, started production in 2011, had more than 200 thousand employees, and contributed to more than 80% of exports of the whole city.

A major shift was that employees now come from the local area. Workers from counties and villages in Henan province, of which Zhengzhou is the provincial capital, now have a geographically closer choice of employment, instead of, say, Guangdong province, which is 1,500 kilometers away from home. It didn’t mean they could get home more often – some of them could still be 100 kilometers from home – but the support of the village municipality seemed important. It was especially important that some village councils permitted the entrance of Foxconn workers back to their own villages, at a time when cross-district traveling would require permission from the local municipalities, a pandemic measure. However, this did not mean the village councils were on the workers’ side. Ultimately, they did what they were told to do. As labour shortage became a key problem, they promptly received [orders](https://card.weibo.com/article/m/show/id/2309404834302545232139) from upper authorities to recruit workers back to Foxconn.

Equally prominent is the issue of automation on assembly lines and competition from other manufacturers, both Chinese and overseas. As a worker [lamented](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/NWgHD-2oVBV2RVtb4rDUmw), “[Foxconn’s] total workforce is decreasing, as automation progresses. Further, there are less and less regular employees, most of us are dispatched workers now.” The employee demographic underwent changes as well, as another experienced employee [observed](https://www.time-weekly.com/post/296773). The Zhengzhou plant used to be predominantly young workers in their twenties, and most were regular employees. Now regular employees are mostly middle-aged, complemented by a large number of short-term workers. The grim reality of the industry is that with less profit, they can only squeeze the workers harder in order to stay afloat. The worse pay simply fails to attract more competitive younger workers.

“We used to have so many subsidies – management subsidies, high-temperature subsidies, specialized position subsidies. After 2016 there is none.” As a recruiting intermediary [observes](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/P2DjoNSoN6mewLMrGlMCzg?), Foxconn employees in Zhengzhou mostly comprised two groups of workers: middle-aged ones who stayed because the factory is close to their home, and quick-cash earners who enrolled on a seasonal basis. “[They] get around 20,000 Yuan for three months’ work, and head back to till their land.”

## Further readings

| Title | Link |
| ------------------------------------------------------ | ---- |
| 我是第一批徒步离开富士康的员工 | http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Mx5mCploY1nt5iGw0lPHFA |
| 郑州富士康部分厂区发布返乡人员奖金新政 | http://www.dahecube.com/article.html?artid=143927%3Frecid%3D1 |
| 郑州富士康外地工人徒步返乡，沿途居民纷纷送食品做补给站 | https://archive.ph/wip/SW5cE |
| 富士康员工“徒步返乡”前后 | https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/FH7ISOoFbhZTuUtvsTqFng |
| 郑州要求富士康园区恢复生产生活秩序 仍有员工陆续离厂 | https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/2UcGC_f51SmhwiQgHw48oQ |
| 富士康返乡者的归途 | https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/L-iCTuL1-QmYmwBlwIV_-g |
| 留守郑州富士康的人 | https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/NWgHD-2oVBV2RVtb4rDUmw |
| 【时事快讯】富士康涨薪的奥秘 | http://telegra.ph/Jinzhao-Newsletter-The-mystery-of-Foxconns-salary-increase-11-05 |
| 我在富士康：一个河南人的12年 | http://www.time-weekly.com/post/296773 |
| 富士康基层管理者亲述：这15天到底发生了什么？ | https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/it/2022-11-01/doc-imqmmthc2858542.shtml |
| China iPhone factory quadruples bonuses to workers amid anger over Covid curbs | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/01/china-iphone-factory-quadruples-bonuses-to-workers-amid-anger-over-covid-curbs |
| 徒步返乡事件后，他们为富士康招工 | https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/P2DjoNSoN6mewLMrGlMCzg? |
| 富士康围城里的年轻人 | https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/myOHvcUdVg6--vuyS03Srg |