
Apple rumored to begin paying Foxconn employees direct wages - jaybol
http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/31/apple-rumored-to-begin-paying-foxconn-employees-direct-wages/
======
megablast
This is going to be a problem for the other workers, not working on Apple
products. Will there be more troubles, with workers bribing managers to get
into the lucrative Apple workshop? Hopefully this ends well.

~~~
bradleyland
You can bet that it will get worse before it gets better. This strikes me as a
well-intentioned action that makes all kinds of assumptions about the reasons
people are committing suicide in China (this isn't exclusive to Foxxconn). I'm
happy for the people who will benefit from the extra money, but the
opportunity for unintended consequences is huge.

------
benologist
The actual source: [http://micgadget.com/4484/apple-providing-subsidies-for-
foxc...](http://micgadget.com/4484/apple-providing-subsidies-for-foxconn-
workers/)

------
seanalltogether
So what's to prevent the factory paid wages from dropping as a result? Someone
up in management has got to be looking for a way to get their dues.

~~~
ugh
The guaranteed PR fallout? That’s a stunt you can pull when you are not the
focus of the press.

~~~
teaspoon
Foxconn can still eat up most of the benefit of the surplus pay by, for
example, reserving positions working on high-retail Apple products for
employees who work extra hours and keep quiet about abuses.

------
RuadhanMc
$132 a month? Talk about slave labor...

Makes me feel a little bit dirty about owning an iPhone.

~~~
metamemetics
Would your prefer that they starve in unseen rural poverty instead? Poverty is
bad but it comes in different degrees and depressing factory work is not the
worst one.

~~~
RuadhanMc
I would actually just prefer it if they were paid more. Apple isn't exactly
strapped for cash...

~~~
metamemetics
I would rather businesses spent resources raising the starving into poverty
than raising those in poverty to western levels.

------
fierarul
This looks highly unusual. Isn't Foxconn interest to keep their workers happy
? I'm not even sure how is Apple justifying this given those workers aren't
Apple employees.

So, basically, Foxconn increased the price of their service but included an
item in the contract where the difference goes directly to the employees ?
Nice way for Foxconn to maintain their margin and make their workers happier.
What did Foxconn do ?

Either way, it looks very strange. Apple could have handled this in many ways
(for example, what about buying part of Foxconn). But it looks like the media
won and Apple is paying to cover up the PR mess. I don't believe Foxconn only
has Apple as a customer but somehow all the media was against Apple. And since
Apple has the cash now, they just paid up.

Let's see how will the workers _not_ working on Apple products feel when their
colleagues get more money.

~~~
sown
> Isn't Foxconn interest to keep their workers happy ?

No. As the saying goes, "Work hard today or work harder tomorrow looking for a
new job".

