Foxconn workers line up to leave the world’s largest iPhone assembly plant as overtime opportunities plunge

“It is a normal Saturday in Zhengzhou, the capital of central China’s Henan province. The sky over the Foxconn factory complex is obscured with a choking smog,” Cissy Zhou reports for The South China Mornigng Post. “Under the hazy sunset, hordes of workers have started to walk out of the production facility. The crowd thins out quickly.”
“But working conditions inside the world’s largest iPhone assembly plant are not normal, as weaker demand for the mobile phones assembled inside the vast 1.4 million square metre (15 million square feet) facility has led to lower salaries and reduced benefits from Apple’s largest supplier,” Zhou reports. “The sharp drop in iPhone sales since the middle of last year, much of it due to weaker Chinese demand, has cast a shadow over the manufacturing giant.”
“Rumours surfaced that Foxconn had axed 50,000 seasonal workers after October, but most workers resigned due to a lack of overtime opportunities, resulting in queues forming every day to complete their exit paperwork,” Zhou reports. “The turnover rate at the Foxconn plant has always been high, but a dozen workers told the Post that it has been even higher since the end of last year.”
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MacDailyNews Take: As the iPhone replacement cycle lengthens, some level of adjustments across the board are only natural.
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