Employees Escape Factory, Rumor of 20,000 COVID...

Source:OT-Team(S,J),Yicai, People’s Daily, Beijing News, Sina

Although Foxconn Zhengzhou has responded to the rumor "20,000 employees have been diagnosed with COVID-19", calling it "serious false news" and claiming that "only a small number of employees are affected", according to its official notice, the factory had adopted prevention and control measures such as closed-loop management and prohibiting dine-in service.

Many videos and pictures about Foxconn Zhengzhou workers returning home by walking dozens of kilometers were being spread at the same time.

 From a variety of information sources, it seemed that after the lockdown measures were taken for the factory, the lack of food reserves after the closure of shops in the industrial park, and food quality problems, had caused concerns for many workers, so they decided to return to their hometowns.

On October 30, according to the "Zhengzhou News Release (郑州发布)", Foxconn Zhengzhou would organize buses to ensure that the leaving employees could return home smoothly and safely. "The current outbreak of the epidemic spreads quickly, but the viral load is low, so far no severe infection has occurred in Foxconn factory, and the epidemic is generally controllable." , as being announced.

On October 29, Yicai reporter learned from multiple sources that, many workers had left Foxconn Zhengzhou factory by long-distance walking and other means. Governments in many areas of Henan Province have contacted their local people working at Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, saying that they are ready to get them return to their hometowns.

Ms. Kang, who lives in the suburb area of Zhengzhou, where is more than 30 kilometers away from Foxconn factory, told that his husband heard the other day that a co-worker had "figured out" a way to leave the factory and was walking home, and he decided to join. They saw many other workers walking home as well, many people living nearby spontaneously brought them food and water.

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Ms. Kang's husband left the factory at noon on October 29 and walked for more than 10 hours. He arrived late that night and being sent to the quarantine site after reporting to the community. Luckily he got enough food with the help of those kind-hearted residents nearby.

According to some workers, the factory's production lines have been running normally, and some workers were tested twice a day, those with abnormal testing results would be transferred. For the sub-close contacts isolated in the dormitories, the factory provided them food, such as bread and milk.

Some workers who were still working on the production lines, said that there were many problems with the food supply at the beginning, and many workers began to complain, but the situation had improved in the past two days. However, many workers were worried that the epidemic might still spread, and they felt anxious.

A Foxconn administrative office staff told Yicai reporter that, the local government has sent a group of officers to Foxconn factory for guiding the epidemic control work.

On the afternoon of October 30, Foxconn's "iDPBG Zhengzhou Epidemic Prevention Team" issued three notices in a row, expressing respect for employees' choices for staying or leaving. It also announced that, after consultation with the local government, buses would be sent to deliver the leaving workers to their hometowns from the afternoon of the same day.

In the above-mentioned announcement, Foxconn Zhengzhou also stated that for workers who are willing to stay at work, the factory will offer "epidemic prevention allowance", including: free meals, travel subsidies, attendance subsidies, etc. For those who are isolated in the dormitories or transferred and isolated by the government, their wages will be paid normally during the quarantine period.

As of the morning of October 30, dozens of counties, municipalities and townships have issued announcements, saying that they were ready for local people working in the Foxconn factory to return to their hometowns.
 
It is reported that, Foxconn owns three factories in Zhengzhou, which are located in Airport Industrial Zone area, Economic Development Zone Area and Zhongmu County. The Zhengzhou factories work as Foxconn's main manufacturing base for Apple's iPhone series, with more than 90 production lines and about 300,000 workers.