Report details Foxconn's faults

A report on Foxconn by university teachers and students from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan was published on Oct. 9th, Beijing Evening News reports. The report details Foxconn's managerial shortcomings, including obligatory overtime, poor workplace safety, and excessive work pressure, which, it says, contributed to the serial suicides. The findings are based on 1,736 questionnaires completed in 12 Foxconn plants in Shenzhen, Kunshan and elsewhere. Fourteen investigators obtained first-hand information by working undercover in the plants.

Li Jing was one of the undercover investigators. She said Foxconn implements a strict administrative code of conduct. Any violation of discipline is harshly punished and the work manual lists 127 punishable offences. Supervisors often yell at subordinates even though it is prohibited by the manual.

Foxconn workers rely on overtime to make a living wage. Around 75% only have 4 rest days per month, and 73.3 percent work more than 10 hours a day. But the rewards are poor. Foxconn announced salary increases of 30 percent following the suicides, but the increase was swallowed up by cancellation of bonuses and increased rents. Earlier this month, Foxconn said it was implementing a 100 percent pay rise, but most employees have little chance of seeing the cash.

Property scam cracked

The police have cracked a large real estate scheme in Kunming, Yunnan Province, the People's Daily reports. The project, dubbed "International Lakeside Eco-city," was funded by a company called Yunnan Junxin Investment Co. Ltd. However, it turned out to be a bogus company, police said. With lower prices and promotions from housing agencies and the press, the scam succeeded in luring over 2,000 local citizens and 40 organizations and swindling some 300 million yuan. The police have detained 16 suspects including the company's chairman, Yang Qingrong, and froze 180 million yuan.

Meizu faces patent infringement

Meizu's cellphone product M8 is facing patent infringement charges for resembling Apple's iPhone in appearance, the Beijing Times reports, quoting Meizu's boss, J. Wong, who said in a web forum that the production of this model now faces suspension. M8, the only cellphone product of Meizu, is hailed as the most successful Chinese cellphone. Its successor, the M9, won't hit the market until December.

Top 500 Private Enterprises

Shagang Group, Suning Appliance, and Lenovo have claimed the top three places on the Top 500 Private Enterprises in China 2010, Chongqing Evening News reports. Shagang Group, the steel company in Jiangsu Province, has been on the top for two consecutive years.

Civil servant recruitment to start

According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, more than 16,000 civil-service posts will be open to the public. The recruitment goes from Oct. 15 to 24, China.org.cn reports.

Hainan evacuates 440,000 residents

More than 440,000 people were evacuated by Sunday as floods wreaked havoc in Hainan Province, Xinhua reports. The floods have disrupted the lives of 2.7 million people in 16 cities and counties on the island and the affected area accounted for 90 percent of Hainan's total territory.

Plastic knife, deadly weapon

At 2:00 a.m. on Oct. 1, 2009 in Zhengzhou, Hennan Province, Yang He went to an underground garage to drive home. As he exited the elevator, he saw two men urinating nearby. He attempted to persuade them from urinating so close to the elevator. According to Yang, one of the men attacked him, and he used a plastic knife to defend himself, but stabbed the man to death, the Henan Business Daily reported. Yesterday, Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced Yang to three years in prison with a five year reprieve.

(China.org.cn October 13, 2010)