(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

BY ADNAN S. KHAN

ANCHOR CHRISTIAN BRYANT

A group of Foxconn factory workers in China used a rather extreme method of tackling labor disputes. PC Magazine explains.

“Electronics manufacturer Foxconn said it has settled a pay dispute with workers at one of its China factories after the employees protested last week by threatening to commit suicide.”

The New York Times broke the news of the settlement. The Times notes the dispute revolved around the relocation of employees in light of plant shutdown.
 

“One worker who participated in the Wuhan protest said by telephone that workers shifted to Wuhan had been promised about $450 a month in salary, including overtime pay, but that they had been given about a third less than that and that working conditions in Wuhan were much more difficult.”


The Telegraph notes Foxconn is one of the top electronic manufacturers and any news of suicide would be really bad for a company whose top customers include Apple, Amazon and Microsoft.


“It is one of very few firms in the world with the expertise and scale to build cutting-edge devices such as the iPhone, Kindle and Xbox 360 at low cost. As such, the technology industry cannot operate without its legions of low-paid assembly line workers.”


And CNN reminds everyone that this is not the first time Foxconn has been in this situation.


“In 2010, the company which employs more than a million people was rocked by a spate of suicides to the plant in Shenzhen, in the southern Chinese province of Quangdong.”


But, a writer for Forbes can see why the workers in China would go to such extent.


“I suppose in a country where worker strikes can be met with mass arrests, the threat of mass suicide is a more palpable one.”


The New York Times reported the details of the agreement weren’t released but most have returned to work. Some 45 workers have resigned and Microsoft is leading an investigation into the incident.