Foxconn offers additional 66 percent raise, pending mysterious performance review
By Sean Hollister 
posted June 6th 2010 10:32PM
posted June 6th 2010 10:32PM
posted June 6th 2010 10:32PM
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
it also shows how poorly the workers used to be paid...
@trivance
do you have to recycle the same photos everytime?
@trivance
They get to save most of that $293. Because room and board are provided by the company. After a few years working there they can have enough to move back to their rural home and purchases a few appliances or pursue an education.
$293 a month goes a long way in China. Consider that China has virtually free healthcare (insurance is only $7 a year http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_health-care_in_China ), and a lot of people rely on subsistence farming and virtually no savings.
They can't own a car, but bicycles are quite common in the rural areas.
@trivance
Who really cares?
@trivance
Aww... she looks sad...
... how about some chow mein?
@trivance It shows how ignorant corporations can be, always thinking in terms of $. Oh, you're unhappy *throws money at the problem*, *then crosses fingers* did that help??? I think it's better they are making a *more fair* wage by Western standards. However, I think a better quality of work/life balance would go further.
I presume this knowing little besides what I've read on the situation and a book with parallels to India by Vandana Shiva that I had issues with, but respected the opinions and viewpoint of completely (it was certain premises that I disagreed with, but still, an eye opener in plenty of ways).
@trivance Sweet, guilt assuaged! Phone please!
@JS virtually free healthcare?! i'm a chinese, and all i kown is chinese will cost a lot ones he had ill. a lots of chinese cost their deposit saved several years, just for some common ills. and some of them dead for just not paying it in time.
@WindowPhoneOwnsAndroid
theyre inside photos of foxconn, a company that doesnt really allow photos of their factories
so i suppose, yes, yes they do, until you manage to sneak some photos that is....
@WindowPhoneOwnsAndroid
that lady in the photo has been made into an internet celebrity (mostly thanks to engadget) and she probably doesn't even know it.
@JS
where in China do they offer "FREE healthcare"??
love the "virtually free" statement. I suppose it would be free if you don't visit the hospital, right? ;)
Also, just so you know, employee at foxconn has their money taken out their paycheck for things such as food and rent.
@trivance
It's also time for Engadget to stop using the $132 figure, the workers get more than the basic $132 salary due to the overtime pay. They pretty much raised the base salary to $293, any overtime pay will be on top of that.
Oh no, it's that sad worker photo again.
@HawtDawg What sadness? Can you not see the joy and delight in her eyes? The delight in knowing that in another 12 hours she can get to sleep!
@HawtDawg
Is someone trying to copy my swag?
@HotDog No, because you obviously don't have any.
/I kid, I kid
Still won't change anything.
@XChrisX true.
@XChrisX
yep, i still don't care.
(and neither do you if you are still considering these products)
@BrianH Not exactly, since it's safe to assume that the products of the competitors to Foxconn's customers are produced under similarly harsh conditions. In such a case it's not really possible to simply say "I'm not buying from Foxconn" since your money will just go to companies which treat their workers just as bad.
Sadly, injustice has a monopoly on production under the current system.
@XChrisX
Actually, it may affect churn (among other things), as massive amounts of poor workers flock to Foxconn for work. It may also have effects elsewhere - like at other plants. Workers there may 'get ideas.'
So i wonder if i can some how brain wash the people where i work and the other stores i go to to off them selves if everyone in our company could get a raise.
Until you change the working conditions, it doesnt matter
@AlienSix
For real. Is more money really a deterrent for suicide?
I know the lady in the photo is/was an undercover reporter (?), but the look of despair on her face is really profound.
also at this rate there just encouraging people to kill themslefes for the greater good. if they stopped paying big sums to there families they would not be doing in the first place
Dude it's not the pay, sure it's awful, but the real problem is that they basically are living like prisoners, and the pay just goes to support their families, what the workers need is a quality of life improvement, and that's obviously a big problem all over China
The fact that they can raise pay numbers by those two percentages in such a short time just shows that they were underpaying to start with.
Don't they have like movie theaters and restaurants in there?
I heard they have pretty nice working conditions.
Life probably sucks when you get paid as much as a kid with a lemonade stand, but lets be honest here, it's not Foxconn's fault that those people decided to go down this road.
The raise is definitely a plus and 'the right thing to do' but at the end of the day, it's only their own fault because of the place where they are now.
@John Lennon
Yes but it's pretty hard to use them when you are working 36 hour shifts. Did you see the video of the CEO showing the facilities? The pool only had 3 people using it. Out of 400,000 people you would think the pool would be a little more packed.
@John Lennon Really? So because these people, for whatever reason, started working at a company that was likely sold to them as one hell of a place (it is an employer after all, and anywhere I've ever applied sells the shit out of how awesome it is there) it is now their fault that they get treated like shit?
I have to say Mr. Lennon, I love your music, but that is one hell of a closed minded viewpoint. And I always thought you were an optimistic dreamer. What gives?
@statelypenguin Nope, it isn't fair. But guess what, nothing in life is. No one is forcing them to work there. That was my point, although I might have said it in a bad way. They chose to work there, no one ever came to them and said either you work at Foxconn or we'll kill you and your family.
So easy as this: Don't like it? Quit.
Maybe then they'll actually be able to achieve something in their life, rather than making iPads all day. And whatever else they make.
@John Lennon
you really are clueless about life out there, they can't just quit, go home and search up monster.com
@John Lennon Your comments are an insult to the person whose name you use as your username. If you really think it's that simple, then you really know nothing about how the world works.
@John Lennon
these workers are in total debt they don't have enough money to live and help their families.
@John Lennon
these workers are in total debt they don't have enough money to live and help their families.
So its close to 100% increase in wages... Ok, this will cause serious problems for manufacturers in China in the coming months. This series of wage increase and RMB appreciation concerns will squeeze the manufacturers' profit margins. Guess what, they will just transfer the burden to consumers or either shut down.... Be very likely that be prepared for hiking prices!!!
@hksuspect Yeah but a 100% increase still isn't very much. When these companies like iSuppli do a cost estimation of gadgets like the iPhone, they usually figure labor to be like $5 per unit. So now it's $10.
Another sign that there stock is going to drop because people are more worried about profits then peoples well being.
@psychoace
Foxconn's share in Hong Kong stock exchange just fell another 5% and trading is now suspended!!
I had a discussion with a few people about this over the weekend. My problem was - how could a person just drop dead after 36 hours straight? I mean, wouldn't you just collapse well before it became life-threatening.
I was then told that these workers were constantly falling asleep and when they do, they are backhanded (not exactly, but "woken up abruptly"). So I guess the only other course of action after that is to, well, die.... the problem is definitely not a purely monetary problem - as in a monetary fix is not the answer. It's allowing the workers more rest time and allowing them to walk away from the production lines to take some time off. Working people to death is, well, stupid.
But an interesting point that was raised - 1.3bn people, if you don't stay at your job, you're sacked and there are thousands of people just waiting to take your job. Makes sense that even if there was provision for people to sleep, they'd simply be "replaced" by others who pushed themselves even harder. Catch 22 if you will...
Thank god the workers were so under paid
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Moto droid froyo 2.2
Apple still doesn't respond, Jobs says they are on top of it - but apple does nothing.
Even with foxconn giving raises it doesn't change the fact there is no going home for these workers. Could you imagine living in your factory then being sacked when you get to be about 25 for a younger cheaper worker and having no future. Can't save anything on the peanuts they pay cost of living in china went up over 33% this year.
The new iPhone has a new name 'foxconn killer X' thanks apple :(
@Xing I was wondering how long it would take to get an Apple hater to chime in. Not long.
Raises are awesome.
But they should also look into abolishing the 90 hour work weeks.
@Johnny Rockets
lol, no food and drink for you. Now get back to work. [whip]
use you wallet power and stop buying from companies that use them until real change is made.
What is the living wage for this country? $293/month seems awfully low in comparison to non-3rd world countries. Why do we let American companies get away with paying these people such poor wages. I bet that they can't even afford to buy one of the products that they make.
@Jason B A chinese worker that I work with says that 5 yuan (worth ~75¢) buys lunch.
@Jason B That's true, I"ve often wondered about that. There they are assembling these meaningless luxuries. I wonder if they look at those items and think "What the heck does this do, anyway?" or worse, 'I spend my life building these things, and I can't even afford one myself." It does make me think twice about buying these things. To be honest, I wouldn't mind paying a bit more for some of the luxury items, electronics that are assembled in these low pay slave factories. To me the real solution is robotics. Factories should have all these manual repetitive tasks done by robots and all menial jobs automated. Then have all human jobs related to arts, science or management, something that is inspiring to a human. We could do away with the monetary system, or at least drastically change it. I still think people should be rewarded for hard work and excellence. Stupid meaningless crap like lotteries should be done away with. If everybody has an equal chance and opportunity to get educated and excel, the lottery is meaningless. Everybody gets food, a home, excellent medical care, and excellent education. 25% of everyone's work load would be assigned to public servitude. That way things that have to be done by humans that don't get done by choice, still get done. But at just 10 hours a week, it's a very acceptable amount. It could be being a janitor, or trash man or doing medical work, whatever gap needs filling. A lot of young or older people would be volunteering for this stuff anyway. Older retired people a lot just like to have something simple to do that keeps them busy and gives them a chance be useful and interact with people. Other than that, with so many people and freedom, things will just work out. There is a natural division of vocational motivations in humans. There are artistic people (actors, painters, chefs), science oriented people, humanitarian people (medical care, counselors, teachers), and organizational people (managers, business runners, government operators.) And then there's criminals and crazy people, both of which would get treatment from humanitarians that specialize in helping such people. And the world would have no more problems. All thanks to changing the world in response to Foxconn's problems. Let's do it.