14 DAY TRIAL // Last week, Foxconn and Apple finally announced a change of policy but, even though they were supposed to cause good reactions, the new measures have also led to worries.
To keep a long story short, Foxconn has announced a pay rise as well as a reduction in working schedules.
The company was found to have broken over 50 legal code directives regarding standard working hours, overtime and payment of overtime, etc.
Foxconn has agreed to stop going beyond the Chinese limit of 40 standard hours per week and to limit the overtime from 80 to 36.
Surprisingly enough, some workers actually felt uneasy about the decision, even though the company promised a pay rise in order to offset the losses suffered from no longer being allowed to work overtime as much as they wanted.
Now, some other concerns have come to light, in that Foxconn's actions could cause other companies to perform similar changes.
As such, in order to prevent the higher expenses from reflecting in higher product prices, corporations will take to automatizing more of their operations.
In other words, they will increase pay and reduce working hours, but in the long term could eventually lead to fewer positions overall. Either that, or the companies will create assembly lines in countries with lower wages in general, like Vietnam. Or both.
At any rate, there is a more immediate “threat” towards the likes of Toshiba, Toyota and other IT players, and not only.
After all, if Foxconn agrees on better conditions, it stands to reason that other companies' workers might want their share of improvements as well, and this extends beyond the IT industry.
"I think whatever Foxconn did will have an impact, certainly, on all Chinese workers in all trades," said Willy Lin, managing director of Hong Kong-based Milo's Knitwear, which makes clothing in three factories in China for European clients.