Foxconn hikes pay for 2nd time a week; days of cheap labour over

[OhioChick]

Source: Economic Times of India

7 Jun 2010, 2239 hrs IST,PTI

BEIJING: Hit by a spate of workers suicides, attributed to poor pay, China's biggest foreign firm Foxconn today announced a second wage hike in less than a week, taking the overall wage hike a whopping 70 per cent, a move that's expected to have a cascading affect, ending the era of cheap labour in the world's factory.

Foxconn, a leading IT contract manufacturer of computers, game consoles and mobile phones for Apple, HP, Sony, Nokia etc, announced a 30 per cent hike last Wednesday for its 4 lakh workers in its various Shenzhen plants. It followed up with yet another wage revision today, taking the impact of the two hikes to around 70 per cent. Salaries would be hiked from 1,200 yuan (USD176) to 2,000 (USD294) from October 1.

Ten workers committed suicide in the past few months in the Shenzhen plant, while two more jumped to death elsewhere in China. The Thaiwanese firm employs over 8 lakh in China. Pay rise for the rest of the workers was expected to announced from July 1.

A statement from Foxconn, said the second pay rise would lessen the pressure on workers to do overtime. "While overtime work is always voluntary, this wage hike will reduce overtime work as a personal necessity," it said.


Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6021250.cms

[ihavenobias]

1. Well, at least some good came out of a tragic situation. n/t

[Divine Discontent]

2. I had not heard apple included before... that's sick they were making products for them & the

slave labor was getting a pittance to keep an existence.

[Richardo]

3. ...and so all the factories will move to Africa by 2020.

Keep going west toward the cheap labor. Leave the nascent middle class behind.

[SkyDaddy7]

4. I was going to say...

China will be outsourcing before long!

Yes, all corporations will do this until they run out of cheap labor...However, by the time they run through the world American Workers will be so desperate for a job corporatiions will come to America for cheap labor!

[proudohioan]

5. Terrible, but that was my thought, too.

Corporations making the full circle of misery.

[proudohioan]

6. How bad does it have to get?

You know it's got to be pretty bad when workers consider suicide a viable option!

:( :-(

Thanks for the update.

[blueclown]

7. Foxconn is still paying well below a living wage.

Even by China's standards.

Let's not applaud them too much.