Foxconn give staff 16% salary increase

One of Apple's main suppliers – Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (Foxconn) said yesterday that they have increased the basic salary of their production line workers by 16 percent. Staff in Zhengzhou, Henan province of China have been offered the increase, partly as the company are having problem recruiting people. They currently employ more than 1 million people in China.

In addition to the salary increase, Foxconn have reduced the probation period for all entry level staff from six months to three months. They hope this will attract people to work for the organisation.

The organisation have faced criticism from many quarters, due to poor working conditions and a raft of suicides in Shenzen during 2010. An explosion in the plant in Chengdu in 2011 killed an additional four workers. The company increased salaries and outfitted their worker dormitories with ‘safety nets' after those events.

The Fair Labor Association based in Washington urged Foxconn to improve their working environments earlier this year. Under pressure after a trip from Apple CEO Tim Cook in March, the company are taking further steps to improve their image, positively affecting their employees.

The FLA proceeded with audits and have said that conditions are improving. They said Hon Hai have fixed some of their most pressing workers rights violations in three of their Chinese factories – they are on track to fix other concerns mid 2013. The company have also enhanced their maintenance of safety equipment.

The FLA said that they need to reduce overtime hours for more than 170,000 employees to within ‘legal Chinese limits'.

From August 1st monthly salary excluding overtime compensation for production line works in Zhengzhou has increased from 1,550 yuan to 1,800 yuan. Hon Hai issued a statement last night detailing the improvements. All of their production line workers will receive a bonus of 200 yuan each month during the peak months between August and November.

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