China-based supplier of Apple screens Biel denies it has laid off thousands of workers
- Biel is the world’s dominant producer of glass screens, producing the material for Apple’s smartphones, smartwatches, tablet computers and notebooks
- It said the ‘protest’ photos actually showed employees arriving at work, and while temporary workers’ contracts had ended, they were offered permanent positions
Biel Crystal Manufactory, a key iPhone component supplier, has denied Chinese media reports that the company is making thousands of employees redundant, saying it will continue to hire workers.
“We have about 130,000 workers in Shenzhen and Huizhou factories. New hiring is still going on,” said chairman Yeung Kin-man of Biel, which is the world’s largest producer of cover glass, and is based in Huizhou, Guangdong province.
His remarks came after Chinese media reports on Friday said that the company had recently announced plans to lay off 8,000 people in its Huizhou subsidiary, which prompted demonstrations on November 9. Many of the reports contained photos and video clips of hundred of workers – mostly male – gathering inside a basketball court.
“These people [in the photographs] are not our permanent employees,” said Yeung. “We recruited about 8,000 staff from agents by paying wages per hour … Half of these saw their contracts expire at the end of October, but all were offered permanent jobs and so far more than 2,000 have accepted.”