Taipie, June 02: Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn, battling to stem a spate of factory suicides in China, said Wednesday it was raising the pay of its Chinese assembly line workers by 30 percent.
The pay raise took effect immediately, said an official at Foxconn’s parent company Hon Hai Precision, which said last week that it was considering a hike of at least 20 percent from the basic monthly pay of 900 yuan (130 US dollars).
“We hope the hike in wages will help improve the living standards of the workers and allow them to have more leisure time, which is good for their health,” the official said, declining to be named.
Foxconn makes a range of top-selling products including Apple iPhones, Dell computers and Nokia mobile phones.
Ten workers at a giant Foxconn plant in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen have fallen to their deaths in apparent suicides this year. An 11th worker died at another factory in northern China.
The deaths have raised questions about the conditions for millions of factory workers in China, especially at Foxconn, where the activists say long hours, low pay and high pressure are the norm.
—Agencies