What is behind Foxconn's iPhone factory China woes?
When officials from his Chinese village approached Hou last month, urging him to work at the world's largest iPhone factory for at least twice the usual pay, he knew it was risky.
Tens of thousands of workers had fled the plant in central China in previous weeks and violent protests had erupted over a COVID-19 lockdown and confusion over hiring bonuses.
But Hou, 24, who asked to be identified only by his family name, told Reuters he took the job at the Zhengzhou plant belonging to Foxconn, Apple's biggest iPhone maker, making 70% of iPhones globally.
The crisis could cut production for November at the factory by at least 30%, a Foxconn source told Reuters on Thursday, a development that has hit Apple's share price.
The plant owned by Taiwan-based Foxconn, battered by China's strict COVID restrictions and facing critical year-end holiday demand, was offering enticing hiring bonuses and excellent pay.
Hou said he was promised up to 30,000 yuan ($4,200) for just under four months' work - far above the 12,000-16,000 yuan Foxconn workers usually get for four months.
But he said he had not bargained on a 10-day spell in quarantine and the sudden notification that employees would have to work an extra month before receiving their hiring bonuses.
Such grievances, Hou and two other workers told Reuters, prompted them to confront Foxconn management at the plant - essentially a city of more than 200,000 employees - leading to sporadic clashes that made headlines worldwide.
In a rare example of large-scale labour unrest in China, Foxconn workers in COVID masks clashed with security personnel in white hazmat suits holding plastic shields. Some demonstrators smashed surveillance cameras and windows with sticks.
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