14 DAY TRIAL // Chinese media reports claim that Hon Hai Precision Industry plans to raise workers' salaries by around 20 percent at its Foxconn unit in China, further addressing an overflow of worker suicides and rising public anger, msnbc reports.
The news comes soon after Foxconn, which assembles Apple’s iPhone and iPad, confirmed the death of yet another employee at its factory in Longhua, an industrial town North of Shenzhen. Some reports say the total number of suicides has reached 11. Others say ten, and that another employee attempted to slit his wrists just yesterday, but survived with medical attention.
Moreover, in light of these events, a small worker protest formed in front of Hon Hai's head office in Taipei on Friday morning, the same msnbc report states. Protesters reportedly set out candles and white flowers as security guards watched.
Edmund Ding, a Hon Hai spokesman, reportedly said that workers were actually on track to receiving a salary raise, but did not offer a time frame for when the increase in the cash portion of pay packages would actually go into effect. "It may help the suicide situation, because we workers just need money and the financial pressure on us is great," a Foxconn employee, reached by telephone at the company's factory, said. "Every little bit helps."
As reported earlier this week by Softpedia, Apple is actively involved in the investigations of suicides at Foxconn, which does not only employ but also house over 400,000 workers at its base in Shenzhen. The Mac maker issued an official statement on Wednesday through Steve Dowling, a spokesman for the company.
"We're in direct contact with Foxconn senior management and we believe they are taking this matter very seriously," Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman, said, according to Bloomberg. "A team from Apple is independently evaluating the steps they are taking to address these tragic events and we will continue our ongoing inspections of the facilities where our products are made." The spokesman reportedly added that, "[Apple is] saddened and upset by the recent suicides at Foxconn."