According to the video shared on Twitter, Hundreds of workers at a Quanta factory in Shanghai (China) tried to break through the fence and clash with security forces. Quanta is an important partner of Apple, with more than half of its revenue from assembling MacBooks and other devices.
Pursuing the goal of “zero-COVID”, the Chinese Government has taken drastic blockade measures since March. China’s strategy to minimize the damage to the economy is to have companies and factories operate in a closed loop, in which workers will live at the place of production.
Quanta’s factory in Shanghai has been under strict restrictions since early April. Video shows workers trying to climb over the fence and being held back by guards wearing white protective suits. . It is known that the reason for the clash was because these workers were not allowed to return to the break room. This measure was put in place to ensure production progress, as well as prevent the spread of disease.
Riot at Quanta’s factory in China
Quanta confirmed the clash happened on Thursday night, but was not immediately available for comment. Share with Bloomberg, a worker said that people are worried when things can tighten even more because COVID positive cases were detected on the premises. Meanwhile, another source of Bloomberg said production was back to normal the next morning.
According to Taiwan Economic Daily, restrictive measures have made Quanta’s factory is only operating at 30% of its normal capacity. This seriously affects Apple’s delivery schedule. Some users said they had to wait nearly 5 months to receive a new MacBook Pro.