Foxconn Gives Factory Workers a Raise

Not sure who took the picture, but it makes those employees look like a bunch of animals looking outta a cage,

I think that was intentional. The people in the picture just look sad...

I still think this Foxconn thing has been blown way out of proportion though. 1 million workers with 17 suicides. I'd bet in my hometown of about 350,000 people there were more suicides then that.

300 years ago, Emperor and his family hold the country's wealth.
300 years after, Giant cooperation's owner hold the worlds's wealth.
Is not about how hard we work...... It just about how we start.....
Some people dont have enough time to finish spending his money,
some people dont heve enough time to make more money before finish spending....
Only God can help us...

I wonder what the cost of living is in these communities. I just can't imagine $140 going very far in any society (I know it was 3 years ago). Many of us take home more than that in a day.

Makes it pretty tough for US to compete in the manufacturing sector with wage expense that low elsewhere.

what a slavery. it is easy to make money off of poor people. why doesn't apple pay them as they pay the american employees, similar sum of money. yeah right. so much for your american dream which is based on modern day slavery.

A few more pay raises and Foxconn will just move out of China, and exploit some poorer 3rd world country with little or no economy.

If they get environmental protection/unions/pay raise, there's always another desperate 3rd world country to move to...

They will keep doing so until it actually affects the sale of their products and boycott their products...

If we could all spare that extra to buy fairtrade...

Just about the minimum wage in Greece.

So which is the 3rd world country?

Wow , something new for them to throw themselves off!!!!!
how generous to provide a new tall structure.

I see the suicide and jumping jokes have already hit but seriously, this is a shame.

It'll take a lot more pay raises to make them start manufacturing in America again

minimum is minimum for a reason, you do next to nothing of value why should you make more?
i sound like a douche... but what foxxcon employees do is screw in screws that have a template over top so you cant screw them in wrong. many minimum wage jobs are minimum wage because you dont deserve more.

again im not trying to sound like a prick, its just a harsh truth... my friend said a while ago, that he was goint to get a raise... i was happy for him, till he told me that minimum wage was going up... still feel good fro him, but disgusted at the same time...

This will of course eventually increase the cost of manufacturing and Apple will raise prices.
Than I can hear the whining starting up over the overpriced crap from China.

It's easy to say 'pay them more' if you forget that we are the ones putting them in that position in the first place !
If we don't shop at Walmart, Walmart would not abuse Chinese workers.
It's like with the drugs.. if we where not consuming that crap the Colombians would not grow it.

They don't mention that, on top of the monthly pay, Foxconn houses its employees in dormitories, and pays for their meals. Take what you make a month, subtract the amount you spend on groceries and rent, and what's left is probably pretty close to what they make, if you are working the same type of job they are.

No, not even close. Cost of living is different, but they are making in a MONTH what I make in a DAY. Granted, I'm not a minimum wage earner, but I'm far from rich. These people are indentured servants, for all practical purposes.

Foxconn has more money than the us government. Foxconn workers could easily be paid better without raising prduct cost. But the rich dont want to lower thier own profits even though they would still be millionares

Hmm, they says that what these people make is "above average" compared to menial labor in other industries. And yet the people have trolled... and foxconn has fed the trolls. I foresee this becoming a viscous cycle for them.

Yea, its nice that all those people will now have more money to go and buy themselves a Western Lifestyle... But the reason that that Ipad you just bought was *only* $400 was because some Chinese or Taiwanese College student got paid 10 cents for assembling it. Yea its rough, yea its *unfair* but that is the system that we have chosen to live with.

Slave farms like foxxconn should be shutdown! Apple has to answer for these crimes as well. We need an international minimum wage that actually works.

Note I said "If you are working the same type of job they are." These workers don't perform very skilled labor. They work a factory assembly line. That type of job here would get you minimum wage.

So, minimum wage here in California is $8.00
$8 x 40 Hours x 4 Weeks = $1280
Rent = ~$600 per room where I live
National average cost of food per month for a single person is between $150 and $300, so let'ts go with $200
$1280 - $600 - $200 = $480

So, an average person in California working a minimum wage job makes a whole $195 more a month.
If you want to get really technical, China's individual income tax is 10%, while our equivalent bracket is 15%, and we also have to pay state tax. So, that same Californian actually only makes $67 more.

Also, congrats on making almost $300 a day?

I don't get it, how come an enterprise from a country with the biggest Gross Domestic Product per capita has to underpay workers from other countries just to lower their costs and have a higher profit margin. Is this exploitation or an accepted business practice ?

As a consumer I won't buy those products this is unfair in many ways.

In the long run this enterprise will be responsible for the decay of their own country.

Actually, my mistake, the Chinese pay zero income tax at this bracket.
This means a junior Foxconn worker makes $74 MORE in cash and added value than a person working a minimum wage job, and renting a room in Southern California. Sounds pretty damn good to me.

I don't think they "gave them a raise", they gave them the opportunity to gain a raise through a test. I have a weird feeling that most of the people who work there wont be able to complete it. It's unfortunate that they don't give everybody a raise and include this opportunity to gain more.

I think you are forgetting they take in house living and food from their checks and they work 80 hour weeks not 40. So no it doesn't sound pretty damn good it sounds brutal.

So wait... how was this a raise? Did they get a cut in hours or something? They were already making 330 yuan a month. And to those that dont think they are paying taxes... of course they are most of their labor goes to fund the communist government... that's how communism works.

@zhihong0321 - The difference between back then and now is (depending on your economic system) back then you had to be born into the upper crust. Now in a capitalist society anyone with an idea and a thousand bucks can patent their idea and start a business. But hey you can try to paint it like nothing's changed all you want just to make it sound like businesses are evil. Arent you cold out there in Zuccotti park?

@theabsinthehare:

Actually most factory assembly line workers here make double minimum wage or more. They pay more just because of the fact the job is tedious and repetitive. I applied for a number of factory jobs when i graduated simply because the pay was $19-25/h to start.

So feel free to stuff the wages and stats you pulled out of your ass right back up in there.

@shin0bi272

"Anyone with an hundred bucks", you're kidding right? More like 100 000$ if you want to start any kind of decent business.

@alidan

"minimum is minimum for a reason, you do next to nothing of value why should you make more?"

What an ignorant. Why is America going bankrupt? Because all factories have been shipped oversea, while America is full of overpaid "services" jobs, that need "skills". Skill or not, factories, may it be of any sector, textile, technology, food, actually produce something of value, while "services" don't. Go work in a freaking factory and then go tell me it's easy. Just because in some cases those jobs don't require high social/intellectual skills doesn't mean people working there don't deserve a fair wage. That's exactly cause of this mentality in North America that the economy is so bad. "I'm better than my neighbor, therefor I deserve more." Assholes...

Let's have a look at that "technical examination" which is probably a lot more difficult than it should be.

There are ~1 million millionaires in China. I wonder what the rest of the 1.999 billion citizens make?

At least they got a raise.

in Belgium, an average person makes 1,970$ a month after taxes. The companies in Belgium have to pay twice that much for the worker, with contributions to the state. I can see now why they would venture in to such countries...

Now they can afford a better outfit before they jump to their deaths.

AS workers die, their pay i spread amongst the remaining ones, BRILLIANT!