• A popular social media video showed Foxconn workers leaving the facility.
• At a time when China is reporting record COVID-19 levels, turmoil has broken out.
• Unrest among Foxconn's employees at its Zhengzhou facility started on Wednesday.

According to a Foxconn source familiar with the situation, over 20,000 workers from Apple supplier Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant in China have left. Most of these employees were recent hires who weren't on the assembly line at the time.

 The person asserted that the resignations would make it more challenging for the company to achieve its prior objective of restarting full production by the end of November after employee unrest rocked operations at the largest iPhone facility in the world. Foxconn opted not to respond. 

The Taiwanese company paid employees who wanted to quit and flee the chaotic workplace CNY 10,000 (about Rs. 1,14,000) on Thursday, prompting the worker departures. It had expressed regret for making a pay-related 'technical error' while hiring new hires, which employees claim contributed to protests that involved physical altercations with security guards. 

The person claimed that the departures had no impact on current output because the new hires still required training requirements before beginning work online. The disturbance occurs as China experiences record levels of COVID-19 infections and struggles with an increasing number of lockdowns that have fueled resentment among residents all around the nation. However, it has also highlighted issues with staff miscommunication and a mistrust of Foxconn management.