By Liu Jinsong (劉金松) and Zhou Lili (周麗麗)
Economic Observer Online
Oct 16, 2012
 Translated by Zhu Na
Original article: [Chinese]

Foxconn, the Taiwan-based Apple supplier with over 1.2 million employees, was back in the news again over the National Day holiday earlier this month with more alleged unrest.

On Oct 6, the US-based advocacy group China Labor Watch reported that Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant in Henan Province experienced a strike involving 3,000-4,000 workers. Harsh overtime requirements and overbearing quality controls were cited as causes.

Foxconn Technology Group later issued a statement saying that initial reports were inaccurate. It said there were “two disputes between a small group of production line workers and Quality Assurance (QA) personnel” at the plant, but the problems were “immediately addressed.” It claimed there were no strikes or work stoppages.

On Oct 9, a reporter from Economic Observer visited Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant to learn what really happened.

Life Here Is Too Boring

Among the over 100,000 workers at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant, most were born in the 1990s. Li Rui, 20, from Kaifeng and Wang Jing, 19, from Shangqiu (both pseudonyms) have worked at Foxconn for only about seven months, but they’ve already become old timers.

They work as quality inspectors that oversee the production process. Wang described their work saying, “Every day we walk up and down the production line, oversee workers and check whether they’re operating according to standard procedure or not.”

There are normally two quality inspectors overseeing about 100 workers on a production line. When first starting in March, Wang thought it would be a good job.  She expected to work eight hour days with two days off each week. But the reality was far from what she anticipated.

“It was said the shift is eight hours, but in fact you need to work two hours overtime every day,” she said. “You have to get up at about 6 am.  You can choose not to work overtime, but you won’t receive the bonus for perfect attendance.”

During busy periods, Wang might only get one day off each month. And she didn’t realize she’d have to take a bus to work since the dormitory is so far from the factory. Night shifts were also something she wasn’t counting on, which usually go from 8 pm to 7 am. “It’s very tiring,” she said

In Wang’s opinion, this kind of life is very tedious and boring. “Every day you have to get up before dawn and it’s already dark when you get back,” she said. “The whole day is just work, getting off work and sleep; plus I need to stand for more than 10 hours every day. After work I don’t want to go anywhere; just want to go back and rest. It’s too boring.”

Although there are breaks occasionally, there aren’t any good places to go for entertainment around the plant. Before the factory was built there was nothing in the area. It appears Foxconn grew out of what was previously just farmland.

A male worker who was eating at a roadside stall said that although Foxconn has continued to raise wages, the pace hasn’t matched inflation. A year ago when he arrived at Foxconn, a plate of fried noodles was 4 yuan. Now it’s 8 yuan. If you’re a smoker, spending on cigarettes and meals each month can eat up almost one-third of your wages, he said.

Pressure and Violence

The environment around the factory also raises worries among workers. Fights and robberies happen fairly often, but the local government is more concerned about expanding production than providing basic public services for workers. Foxconn is considered a badly-needed driver of local economic growth amid the chilly environment for exporters across the nation.

In addition to the hard physical work, Wang has a constant worry of conflicts breaking out with production line workers.  As quality inspector, her job is to watch for improper production procedures and report them to the performance evaluation department. Although it doesn’t directly impact assembly line workers, it affects the people in charge of production lines, and their performance reports are linked to year-end bonuses.

“The person in charge of the production line will scold the leaders below him [if he gets a bad report],” Wang said. “Then the leaders will scold staff below them. When employees get scolded, the pressure is passed down level by level.”

However, as a quality inspector, she has no choice but to make these reports. “If we make rounds on the production line for ten hours without recording a single problem, the boss will think we’re not doing our job well and we’ll be scolded,” she said.

Some workers understand this situation, but some don’t. This often leads to verbal abuse or even physical violence.

Wang said the worst situation she encountered was when she was accosted by about six or seven production line workers. Fortunately, others nearby intervened and stopped the altercation.

Li Rui, the other quality inspector, experienced a similar incident when she was surrounded and berated by production line workers until she cried.

Then there are workers who just can’t handle the pressure. Earlier this month at the plant, a male employee over 30-years-old went for a cigarette outside the workshop and suddenly threw himself to the ground while shouting. An ambulance came and took him away. “One more went crazy,” remarked a worker watching the scene.

Wang said during Mid-Autumn Festival, there were several quality inspectors who were attacked - some while in the plant and some while on their way home. Then on Oct 2, a female leader working in the quality control department was beaten up in the workshop. This led to the strike, which Wang Jing and Li Rui took part in.

Foxconn’s Management Problem

In the day following the beating, Wang Jing and Li Rui heard news that there was going to be a strike, but they still weren’t sure if it was actually going to happen. The next day, Wang Jing contacted a friend from another quality control department and confirmed that other inspectors had already stop working, so she immediately went back to her dorm room.

Wang felt that inspectors had to unite at this moment, otherwise the assembly line workers would be more aggressive and company management would ignore demands to guarantee safety.

In the afternoon, Wang received a text message from the company. It said that the relevant safety problems raised by staff would be dealt with properly after investigation, and that the company would take measures to ensure employees’ safety. It also asked all employees who were on strike to return to work before 4:30 pm.

After talking with some other quality inspectors, Wang learned that some had already gone back to work, so she followed suit.

“It was quite fun,” Wang said about the strike.

She says that the company should be able to deal with incidents like this better. “In the past the company would just pay out 2,000 yuan to settle things down,” she said. “Now I’m afraid it won’t be ended so easily this time. No matter what, they should give an explanation.”

Liu Kun (劉坤), a Foxconn Technology Group spokesperson, said that for this short strike, the main problem was communication and that the company hasn’t done well in terms of understanding employee demands.

Two years ago, Foxconn moved the production line that makes iPhone products for Apple from Shenzhen to Henan, which was important for the manufacturing giant’s plans to move inland amid rising labor costs. However, problems like evolving worker demands and the lack of supporting facilities have complicated the transition.

Lu Huilin (盧暉臨), a sociology professor at Peking University who focuses on the new generation of migrant workers, says that Foxconn moving inland has reduced production costs, but the company hasn’t made fundamental changes in its management.

Lu says that the semi-military style management doesn’t suit the characteristics of the new generation of workers. Therefore, as long as the company fails to fundamentally change the management system and improve the production and living environments, problems like this will continue in the future.