World's largest iPhone maker offers daily bonuses to staff who stay during Covid lockdown

Apple supplier Foxconn is handing bonuses to workers at its Zhengzhou plant in central China, Chinese government-backed media reported, as it works to quell employee discontent at the site over Covid-19 curbs.

Daily bonuses for employees, who are part of a Foxconn unit responsible for making electronics — including smartphones at the site — have been raised to 100 yuan ($13.70) between October 26 to November 11, the Henan Daily newspaper cited an unnamed head of the firm's integrated digital product business group unit as saying on Monday.

The company (formally Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd) is also giving all employees at the site — who have attended work as normal since October 19, and have also complied with virus prevention measures — a bonus of 50 yuan a day, the person said.

Foxconn did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Henan Daily article. The Henan Daily is the official newspaper of the province of Henan, of which Zhengzhou is the capital.

Foxconn is Apple's biggest iPhone maker, producing 70 per cent of iPhone shipments globally. It makes most of the phones at the Zhengzhou plant where it employs about 200,000 people, though it has other smaller production sites in India and south China.

The Zhengzhou plant has been rocked by discontent over stringent measures to curb the spread of Covid-19, with several workers fleeing the site over the weekend.

• India: Vedanta, Foxconn to invest $19.5 billion in Gujarat chip project