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'Suicide Factory' Workers Relocated to Avoid Raises

Only iPhone workers will get hefty wage hikes promised by Foxconn

By Caroline Miller,  Newser Staff

Posted Jun 15, 2010 10:13 AM CDT

(Newser) – Here's one way to avoid paying the hefty raises promised to 300,000 workers at the suicide-plagued Foxconn electronics plant in Shenzhen, China: move most of them to less expensive, remote plants in other parts of the country. Foxconn is apparently keeping the iPhone workers in Shenzhen, but moving Hewlett Packard and other production to Tianjin, Yantai, or Wuhan. The minimum monthly wage in the Shenzhen plant, near Hong Kong, is now 1,100 yuan ($161), China Daily reports, and as low as 900 yuan in the other locations.

The higher wages, plus a bonus that would have raised salaries to 2,000 yuan after 3 months, were seen as a threat to Foxconn's bottom line, and a trigger for wage inflation throughout China.

In this photo taken on Feb. 24, 2010, a recruiter talks to job seekers near a sign which reads Foxconn Technology Group Recruitment Point in Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong province. On Sunday, June 6, 2010, Taiwanese-owned Foxconn Technology announced the second in a series of raises that would increase...
In this photo taken on Feb. 24, 2010, a recruiter talks to job seekers near a sign which reads "Foxconn Technology Group Recruitment Point" in Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong province. On Sunday,...   (AP Photo)
In this photo taken on Feb. 25, 2010, job-seekers rest on a pedestrian bridge near a factory of the Foxconn Technology Group at Longhua in Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong province.
In this photo taken on Feb. 25, 2010, job-seekers rest on a pedestrian bridge near a factory of the Foxconn Technology Group at Longhua in Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong province.   (AP Photo)
Members of a Taiwan labor group stage a rally outside Hon Hai Precision Industry, the Taiwanese parent company of Foxconn, on Friday, May 28, 2010, in Taipei, Taiwan, following a series of suicide deaths of Foxconn employees in China. A Foxconn Technology worker tried to kill himself Thursday, becoming the...
Members of a Taiwan labor group stage a rally outside Hon Hai Precision Industry, the Taiwanese parent company of Foxconn, on Friday, May 28, 2010, in Taipei, Taiwan, following a series of suicide deaths...   (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Protesters pray for the Foxconn workers who committed suicide next to a cardboard cutout of Apple Inc.'s Chief Executive Steve Jobs portrayed with devil horns and placards reading Bloody Apple at a Apple Inc. premium reseller during a protest in Hong Kong Tuesday, June 8, 2010. Protesters picketed Foxconn's...
Protesters pray for the Foxconn workers who committed suicide next to a cardboard cutout of Apple Inc.'s Chief Executive Steve Jobs portrayed with devil horns and placards reading " Bloody Apple " at...   (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
A worker looks out through the logo at the entrance of the Foxconn complex in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen Thursday, May 27, 2010.
A worker looks out through the logo at the entrance of the Foxconn complex in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen Thursday, May 27, 2010.   (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 11 comments
sirgil
Jun 17, 2010 3:31 PM CDT
The Chinese Business leaders must have hired some investment banker consultants in order to preserve the bottom line! In business history its all about labor cost, and how to avoid it or live with as little as possible.
British imperialism folds, why? its colonial empire and labor are restless and grossly underpaid if paid at all.
American imperialism fills the gap of the Brits, and now starts to fold, Why? updated version of Brits
Chinese imperialism now filling the gap, but being the most intelligent race on the planet (from Bell Curve), will probably get it right, lets watch!
sailor86
Jun 15, 2010 9:47 PM CDT
Hey! Mr. "Jobs"! What's wrong with employing (get this) Ah-mehr-ikans?! Cheap bastard.
aces08
Jun 15, 2010 8:08 PM CDT
Capitalism demands the mistreatment of the lower class in order to provide the middle and upper class with a ridiculously good standard of living (though moreso the top 5% than the middle class). Everyone that says its the consumers fault is full of shit. If the top 5% of the wealthiest people would share the wealth than everyone could have cheap iphones and everybody could have a good standard of living.

 
China • iPhone • electronics • Apple • Shenzhen • Hewlett-Packard • Foxconn

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