14 DAY TRIAL // As Apple defends itself from allegations regarding its awareness of Foxconn mistreating workers, the Chinese electronics company that assembles Apple’s iPhones and iPads is now recruiting an additional 100,000 employees.
Things may not be as bad as previously reported, if thousands are scrambling to score a job on Foxconn’s iPhone assembly plant, suggests M.I.C Gadget, a Chinese resource of Apple rumors.
Then again, the same source calls Foxconn’s iPhone plant a “hell factory” and suggests that these people are desperate to get a job, “no matter how poor the working conditions are.”
Foxconn is reportedly planning to double the size of the workforce at its facility in Zhengzhou, the capital and largest city of Henan province in north-central China.
The company wants to recruit as many as 100,000 new employees, and thousands are already flocking to nab a job at the plant in Zhengzhou.
The reason appears to be a relatively attractive salary and the included dormitory and food.
The salary at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant starts at CNY 1650 (261 US dollars), and it stands to be increased to CNY 2400 – 3200 ($506) after the appraisal.
According to people who are familiar with the matter, “Foxconn incorporates the food and housing allowance into the basic salary. So, this attracted thousands of young job seekers to deliver their resumes to the Foxconn representatives.”
“The lines stretched more than 200 meters along the road, and the people who were waiting in line with their applications just hope to get a job at Foxconn as the electronics contracting giant ramps up hiring for its iPhone plant at Zhengzhou.”
Foxconn is likely ramping up recruitment in anticipation of some hefty iPhone 5 orders from Cupertino, California. The fifth-generation iPhone may be unveiled at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in a few months from now.
Most of the applicants were males, and most of those have work experience, according to Chinese media reports. Some of them have just graduated from college.
And there were a number of people who reportedly worked for Foxconn in southern China’s Shenzhen province and now want to work in Zhengzhou.
Xiao Wang, an existing Foxconn employee who was working in one of the southern plants, said: “Working in southern China is too far away from home. I could only go home once a year.”