“Following a string of suicides at its Chinese factories, Foxconn Technology Group raised workers’ wages and installed safety nets on buildings to catch would-be jumpers. Now the often secretive manufacturer of the iPhone and other electronics is holding rallies for its workers to raise morale at the heavily regimented factories,” Gillian Wong reports for The Associated Press.
“The outreach to workers shows how Foxconn has been shaken by the suicides and the bad press they have attracted to the normally publicity shy company. The latest suicide — the 12th this year — occurred August 4 when a 22-year-old woman jumped from her factory dormitory in eastern Jiangsu province,” Wong reports. “The motivational rallies are titled ‘Treasure Your Life, Love Your Family, Care for Each Other to Build a Wonderful Future’ and will be held at all facilities in China, according to Burson Marsteller, a public relations firm representing Foxconn. ‘For a long period of time I think we were kind of blinded by our success,’ said Louis Woo, special assistant to Terry Gou, the founder of Foxconn’s parent company. ‘We were kind of caught by surprise.'”
“The rally Wednesday was taking place at Foxconn’s mammoth industrial park in Shenzhen, which employs 300,000 and where most of the suicides took place,” Wong reports. “In May, Gou promised to work harder to prevent more deaths. More counselors were being hired and employees also were being assigned to 50-person groups to watch one another for signs of emotional trouble.”
Wong reports, “Foxconn also announced two raises, more than doubling the basic worker pay to 2,000 yuan (US$293) a month at the Shenzhen compound. But workers have to pass a three-month review period before they qualify for the second raise.”
Full article here.