【英语生活】富士康为内地员工加薪20%

Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer, is planning to raise wages for its Chinese workers by around 20 per cent after a spate of suicides at its main plant in southern China put working conditions at its factories under international scrutiny.

Ten workers have died at the Longhua plant since the beginning of the year and another employee tried to kill himself on Thursday but survived, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Foxconn, which assembles and makes parts for major electronics brands, has around 20 manufacturing bases employing a total of 800,000 people all over China.

Some of Foxconn’s top customers have said they were looking into working conditions at the manufacturer in response to the spate of suicides.

Sony, which declined to comment earlier this week on the incidents at Foxconn, said on Friday it had begun taking steps to re-evaluate the working environment at Foxconn. Apple, Dell and Hewlett-Packard have already said they will launch their own investigation into working conditions at the factory.

Foxconn and local police have said there were personal reasons behind each individual case, but labour advocates argue that constant pressure and social isolation have raised the risk of suicides among the workers.

“The raise will be different depending on the location, but it will be around 20 per cent on average,” said Edmund Ding, vice president and spokesman at Hon Hai Precision Industry, the group’s parent company.

Labour activists have appealed to Foxconn to raise wages by at least 50 per cent. They argue that this would allow workers to earn enough to make a living without having to do overtime.

Management and workers at Foxconn’s Longhua manufacturing complex said the company had been considering a pay rise for several months.

Foxconn pays its workers according to China’s legal minimum wage, but most of them make at least double that amount through constant overtime.

The base monthly salary for Foxconn’s production workers at the Longhua plant is Rmb950 ($140), but staff interviewed by the FT said they were making close to Rmb2,000 a month including overtime.

全球最大的电子产品合同制造商富士康(Foxccon)计划为中国内地员工加薪约20%。此前，一系列员工自杀事件引发了全球对其工厂生产条件的关注。

据中国官方的新华社报道，自今年年初以来，已有10名员工在富士康龙华工业园中自杀身亡。周四又有一位员工企图自杀，但没有成功。

富士康为多个知名电子产品品牌进行产品组装或零件生产，在中国内地拥有20来个生产基地，总共雇员80万人。

在这一系列自杀事件之后，富士康的一些最大企业客户已经表示，它们将调查该富士康工厂的生产条件。

本周早些时候曾经拒绝对富士康自杀事件进行评论的索尼(Sony)周五表示，将重新评估富士康工厂的工作条件。苹果(Apple)、戴尔(Dell)和惠普(Hewlett-Packard)此前也表示，将对富士康工厂的生产环境进行调查。

虽然富士康和深圳当地警方表示，每个自杀企图的背后都有着个人原因，但劳动权益活动人士则称，长期的工作压力和与社会隔绝加大了富士康工人的自杀风险。

“此次加薪各地工厂幅度不同，但平均为20%左右，”富士康母公司、台湾鸿海精密(Hon Hai Precision Industry)副总裁及发言人丁祈安(Edmund Ding)周五说。

此前劳工权益活动人士呼吁富士康为工人加薪50%以上。他们称，这个幅度能够让工人在不加班的情况下，也能挣足够多的钱以维持生计。

富士康龙华工业园区的管理层和工人们都表示，该公司从数月之前就开始考虑加薪。

富士康目前按照中国法律对最低薪酬的要求支付工资，但是大部分员工通过长时间加班，可以挣到这个薪酬的起码两倍。

富士康龙华工业园区的生产工人每月的基本工资是950元（合140美元），但英国《金融时报》采访的几位员工表示，包括加班工资，他们每月可以挣近2000元。