In China, Foxconn offers staff $1,400 to leave after violence at world’s largest iPhone factory

Foxconn Technology Group has begun offering 10,000 yuan ($1,400) to any workers who choose to leave, an unusual decision intended to appease disgruntled new hires who played a central role in violent protests that rocked the world’s largest iPhone factory.

Apple Inc.’s main global production partner said in an online notice the sum, to be paid out in two installments, will help smooth the journey home for employees. Many of the 200,000-plus workers at Foxconn’s main plant in Zhengzhou hail from elsewhere in the province or country. But the intent was also to usher out recent employees that the local government had helped recruit, many of whom fueled tensions among the ranks, a Foxconn spokesperson said on Thursday.