Foxconn steps up recruitment in Zhengzhou

Source: Want China Times

Despite serial reports of harsh working conditions at its factories, Taiwan-based contract electronics manufacturer Foxconn plans to hire 100,000 people in Zhengzhou, the capital of the central Chinese province of Henan, which attracted thousands of hopefuls to line up for a job on Monday, reports our sister Chinese-language newspaper China Times.

A previous story by the Chinese-language Apple news website Mic Gadget said that Foxconn has entered a partnership with the Zhengzhou government, aiming at doubling the size of its local workforce by hiring more than 100,000 workers.

Apple's main contractor held a recruitment drive at a human resource center in the city on Monday. The more than 1,000 jobseekers were mostly young people, creating a queue of longer than 200 meters outside the center from the night before the event. A report from the Chinese-language news website ITXinWen likened their fervor to would-be buyers of the iPhone 4S.

Labor shortage problems in China have spread from coastal provinces to interior regions. Foxconn's facilities in the central city of Wuhan, which has 32,000 employees and plans to add 7,000 workers this year, has responded by setting up a reception in the city's train station from Jan. 28, offering a bus to take jobseekers to the factory directly.

On Tuesday, Foxconn's recruitment in southern city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province also attracted thousands of hopefuls and hired nearly 5,000 people in a day.

"The company guarantees payment," a jobseeker surnamed Liu was quoted by the local Southern Metropolitan Daily as saying.

Foxconn has come under fire in recent years for unsafe working conditions and military-style management that has driven employees to despair and suicide. The company has raised basic pay levels several times to improve its negative image.

Liu Kun, a spokesman for Foxconn, told the newspaper that the Shenzhen factory has raised its starting salary from 1,550 yuan (US$246) per month to 1,750 yuan (US$277), with insurance, food and board included. The base in Zhengzhou has set its starting salary as 1,650 yuan (US$262) per month, which may increase to anywhere from 2,400 to 3,200 yuan (US$380 to US$$507) per month.