Foxconn offers additional 66 percent raise, pending mysterious performance review
Though working conditions at Hon Hai Precision Industry may or may not have improved since Foxconn CEO Terry Gou showed off the pool, pay most certainly has. Where workers once made 900 yuan (about $132) per month, Reuters reports that should workers pass a three-month review, they could pull in 2,000 yuan ($293) in the same period. However, Foxconn's not saying what would qualify an individual for the review. Even should they not pass, wages will be 30 percent higher than before the company's labor scandals were brought to light, and before a string of twelve laborers reportedly committed suicide.























@sonicwind You sure are optimistic about human nature aren't you.
they should definitely receive a bonus for not committing suicide each month, or at lease each quarter. Also, Foxconn might consider a penalty for attempting suicide, like a week off without pay or bathroom cleanup duty for a month.
@sonicwind:
>they should definitely receive a bonus for not committing suicide each month
As opposed to not receiving a bonus if they commit suicide? I'm pretty sure the bonus you speak of is simply a normal raise.
@michaspi and every year they should give a special trophy to the employee who attempts suicide the least amount of times. That would surely motivate employees to attempt suicide less often to win the award.
@sonicwind
Good ideas but trophies cost alot. Apple sticker works.
@cdf74dc9 That's perfect. The worker that attempts suicide the least number of times each quarter gets to wear the coveted Smiling Apple sticker on their forehead at work.
What they need is better working conditions
I tired of people comparing the CEO's salary with one of these worker's pay. I know I will get downranked by this comment but these dudes and gals are bums! There, I said it! You can't expect someone with no education or a high school degree at most to earn a computer engineer's salary! Hell no! What do you expect huh? Why should anyone pay you to sit on your ass! Why should they? It's not Foxconn, it's a whole society, from the most populous country emerging into a capitalist society. Foxconn just happened to be employing over 400,000 of these hicks.
Only 66% pay rise! The greed of these scum-suckers knows no bounds. They are paying them peanuts and giving them two thirds of another peanut ain't gonna change nothing. The bare-faced cheek to offer them 66% when they should all be given 1000% is unbelievable.
@xus1
Yea, considering the average of a hotel worker in Taiwan is $571 for "part time". This is how Apple got their earning, from blood and sweet of an honest worker. Apple should be spanked. Apple deserved an award of the year for being a %ick.
Steve: No, it's not a sweetshop, they are working in a paradise environment but some doesn't realize that. We gave them lots of Apple sticker every month too.
iFan: Agrees, I think Steve is telling the truth :)
@xus1 They've been getting by at that rate for years. Believe me, a 66% raise will bring about a change of life for them. Just think if you got a 66% raise. You'd probably upgrade your house and car and take cooler vacations. Or retire 10 years earlier. That's a pretty big deal, if you ask me. For them it's probably the effect of actually having more money that enough for bare necessities in life. Now they can actually save some money, or buy an iPod etc. It's a start.
It's sad that it took Foxconn five acts of suicide and loss of precious life to realise something was wrong.
Nobody here is willing to boycott the products that are pushed out of these factories
I think until anyone does that, all you have to say amounts to hot air and good feeling.
You don't actually care until you vote with your dollars.
Myself? I don't pity them. We are looking through the looking glass of a 1st world western culture. Chinese culture-any eastern culture for that matter, save perhaps India-has a strong emphasis on labor ethic. One of the reasons why Japan is one of the most productive cultures in the world.
If we all worked like immigrants in this country, we'd be productive too. We'd rather enjoy the finer things in life and pretend those who work in factories like these deserve better and do nothing about it-IE stop buying products that are made in these places.
I think westerners need to remember that what built this nation was 16 hour work days
@cyborgsattack
I maintain that any product sold on a continent should have a certain percent of that product made or assembled on that continent. Very much the way the auto industry is required to have a certain percent of a car be made domestically in order to be considered a domestic sale, props to Toyota on that.
Too much is made in Foxconn factories. That's part of the problem, for both us and them. So much manufacturing is done in one place, that it's super hard to keep up with demand and maintain their silly cheap labor costs. Foxconn designed it's whole payscale so people work hard to keep up with demand, a major reason why Foxconn is so successful.
Consumers care about the price tag too much -- so much it means they loose their own jobs because of it. I don't actually own anything made by Foxconn because I don't like those types of low quality below consumer grade products. When someone asks me what kind of computer is best I usually tell them the truth - it's all made by Foxconn there is no difference. I also have a blacklist of Chinese companies that are so low quality it's a crime they even get away with selling products in stores like Walmart and Bestbuy.
As for 16 hour work days, I lasted 5 years doing that. Falling asleep at work and while driving etc... It landed me in the hospital and now I can't work for shit because my body is all shot to hell. Working silly hours endlessly is not a solution to problems. Well it is if you are the kinda person who grinds in MMO's lol XD
So the lesson here is that if you feel you are underpaid at your place of employment, don't look for a better job, just push your coworkers off the roof and scribble a suicide note.
You again. You post the same crap EVERY time.
Apple is not the only company that uses Foxconn. Others include Microsoft, Sony, HP, Dell, Nintendo, Amazon, Cisco etc.
However they are the ONLY one to independently investigate and the ONLY one to offer a pay raise separate from Foxconn. So really you should be thanking Apple.
@Engadget. Haven't you got any other library photos of depressed looking Chinese workers? Its the same picture every time you publish a Foxconn story.
Reminds me of the local news websites, who always use the same stock picture of a police car, every time there is a crime or road accident story.
Now they make more than most of the people in Eastern Europe (Romania, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria... I named just the countries who are in EU). They better move the factories there. People don't kill themselves there! They used to work harder than that when they came in US 30-50 years ago!
Maybe production will increase by 66%.... haha.
At least one Apple product should be "made in USA" and not just "designed in".
"However, Foxconn's not saying what would qualify an individual for the review."
I would guess that "not killing yourself" would be the first major qualification.
That's the answer, throw more money at them apple, but you must make sure they pass a bogus performance review that we will never get to see because it's that bogus. But money should fix it, of coarse it will fix it. It fixes everything here in the USA, I'm mean look how it's fixed the gushing oil that's filling up the gulf of Mexico, it's fixing our economy as we speak, and it also fixed the presidential elections so we could elect a black man to open the printing presses since there isn't enough money. Why don't you look at the actual conditions, have you ever thought it may be more of the are making devices that are sold for more then what they make in 6 months. That can be very demoralizing. And why would they care about the quality. I'm sure a few will make it thru the production line and in to the greedy hands of the American youth who have no real grasp of reality which is caused by there parents. It's not just the money, it could be the whole picture.
Oh waaah, we commited suicide because we have all of the jobs middle Americans used to do. We don't have to worry about lay offs or outsourcing. We wan't to spend money on frivolous things even though our cost of living is lower then a lot of countries Whaaaa.
So by this logic the people who work for Wal-Mart and get shafted on hours amongst other things aren't trying hard enough then? Time for a mass Wal-Mart suicide rate.......
Oh waaah, we commited suicide because we have all of the jobs middle Americans used to do. We don't have to worry about lay offs or outsourcing. We wan't to spend money on frivolous things even though our cost of living is lower then a lot of countries Whaaaa.
So by this logic the people who work for Wal-Mart and get shafted on hours amongst other things aren't trying hard enough then? Time for a mass Wal-Mart suicide rate.......