300,000 Foxconn staff in move to Henan
Foxconn plans to relocate 300,000 jobs from Shenzhen to a new factory in central China's Henan province, and shift some other production to Tianjin , Qingdao and Wuhan after a spate of worker suicides and rising labour costs in Shenzhen.
Xinhua reported yesterday that Foxconn's new factory in Zhengzhou , Henan's provincial capital, would occupy a 133-hectare site provided by the city government. Henan, one of the mainland's most populous provinces, is the original home of about 22 million migrant workers.
Assembly line workers at Foxconn's two Shenzhen factories said yesterday that they had been told about its relocation plans. Many said they would not move with Taiwanese-owned Foxconn, which makes iPads and iPhones for Apple as well as computers for Dell and Hewlett-Packard.
Workers said they had been told that only 100,000 of the 400,000 workers at Foxconn's Shenzhen plants would remain in the city to manufacture the profitable Apple gadgets while the rest of the company's production would be relocated to other parts of the country.
Authorities from the Henan city of Hebi issued a notice on Friday seeking to recruit 100,000 people for training by Foxconn in Shenzhen, followed by jobs at its Henan plant.
The notice, posted on the city government's website, said workers would be paid a basic salary of 1,200 yuan (HK$1,370) a month during three months of probation and their monthly income would range from 1,600 yuan to 2,300 yuan. The pay is the same as that given to workers at Foxconn's Shenzhen factories, where workers won a 30 per cent pay rise this month.
The notice said those who passed probation would be given a basic salary of not less than 2,000 yuan a month and their monthly income would range from 2,500 yuan to 3,000 yuan.
The notice also promised that overtime would be limited to three hours a day and workers would be guaranteed one day off a week.
A Foxconn spokesman declined to comment on the shift of production and the Hebi government quietly removed the recruitment notice from its website yesterday.
The offer is inviting for those living in less developed, lower-cost inland cities such as Hebi, but many Foxconn workers in Shenzhen said they would not go to Henan. They also complained that there had been little change in Foxconn's strict management style and inhumane work environment despite worker suicides.
'I am still required to work 11 hours a day, from 7.30am to 7.30pm, seven days a week, with only 30 minutes for lunch and dinner,' a worker in his 20s from Guangxi said. 'Although the company guaranteed at least one day off every week after 13 suicide attempts, the policy hasn't been carried out.
'One of the few improvements was that our supervisor broadcast pop songs after we complained that all work and no play made workers dull boys. But even that was cancelled after just a few days.'
Foxconn workers said their current monthly salaries were only 100 yuan more than the city's statutory minimum wage. The company says it will increase their base pay to 2,000 yuan from October 1.
Brutal regime
Foxconn workers say they still work 11 hours a day, with no day off
This regime continues despite suicide attempts by workers, some of which have been successful.
The number of attempts stands at: 13
Foxconn says it will increase their pay on October 1 to this amount, in yuan: 2,000 yuan
