14 DAY TRIAL // The giant Chinese electronics manufacturer and Apple partner known as Foxconn has reportedly promised another raise to its factory workers, in an effort to further eliminate bad press. Following reports of around a dozen suicides occurring at the Chinese company’s facilities, Foxconn will pay 66 percent more to workers on top of the earlier 30-percent raise, based on the workers’ performance.
According to a report by electronista.com, workers who pass a three-month evaluation will get the improved pay. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou acknowledged that the raise was directly tied to the condition of his workers, but did not directly say it was an effort to address the suicide wave.
"This wage increase has been instituted to safeguard the dignity of workers, accelerate economic transformation, support Foxconn's long-term objective of continued evolution from a manufacturing leader to a technology leader, and to rally and sustain the best of our workforce," Gou said, according to the report.
Going into effect on October 1 for regular workers in the Shenzhen area, the wage increase will be applied at other Chinese plants, which will have their details on July 1st, according to the report. Supervisors aren’t to find out how their pay is affected until a month later. Foxconn also reportedly said that it would make overtime working hours less essential for some workers.
Speaking at the All Things D conference held on Tuesday, June 1, Steve Jobs downplayed talk of the Chinese electronics manufacturer being a sweatshop, saying, "It's a factory, but my gosh, they have restaurants and movie theaters, but it's a factory. But they've had some suicides and attempted suicides, and they have 400,000 people there. The rate is under what the US rate is, but it's still troubling." Jobs reportedly added, "We are on top of this. We look at everything at these companies. I can tell you a few things that we know. And we are all over this."