Source:
Economic Times of India7 Jun 2010, 2239 hrs IST,PTI
BEIJING: Hit by a spate of workers suicides, attributed to poor pay, China's biggest foreign firm Foxconn today announced a second wage hike in less than a week, taking the overall wage hike a whopping 70 per cent, a move that's expected to have a cascading affect, ending the era of cheap labour in the world's factory.
Foxconn, a leading IT contract manufacturer of computers, game consoles and mobile phones for Apple, HP, Sony, Nokia etc, announced a 30 per cent hike last Wednesday for its 4 lakh workers in its various Shenzhen plants. It followed up with yet another wage revision today, taking the impact of the two hikes to around 70 per cent. Salaries would be hiked from 1,200 yuan (USD176) to 2,000 (USD294) from October 1.
Ten workers committed suicide in the past few months in the Shenzhen plant, while two more jumped to death elsewhere in China. The Thaiwanese firm employs over 8 lakh in China. Pay rise for the rest of the workers was expected to announced from July 1.
A statement from Foxconn, said the second pay rise would lessen the pressure on workers to do overtime. "While overtime work is always voluntary, this wage hike will reduce overtime work as a personal necessity," it said.
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