Foxconn’s illegal overtime work was criticized by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

Last year was the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the current Labor Law. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions recently (2nd) reported ten typical illegal cases and labor incidents in the field of labor relations in China in 2014. Jun Guo, secretary of the Secretariat of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions and Minister of Legal Affairs, criticized Foxconn Group for working overtime illegally for a long time, which caused some workers to have various mental health problems and caused karoshi or suicide from time to time. The Federation of Trade Unions named Foxconn, which aroused public concern. The next day, Foxconn responded that on the one hand, employees hope to increase their income through overtime work, on the other hand, enterprises must ensure that overtime work is legal and compliant, which is a challenge for all manufacturing enterprises.

Unlike Alibaba’s "tricks" with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, Foxconn, as the largest foundry of Apple, has only one round of "dialogue" with the National Federation of Trade Unions. According to the The Paper reporter’s interview with Foxconn’s insider’s office, Foxconn’s public statement was meant by its chairman, Guo Taiming. When Jun Guo, secretary of the Secretariat of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions and Minister of Legal Affairs, criticized Foxconn by name, "Foxconn wanted to explain it to the outside world".

Foxconn’s statement said: "When we heard Mr. Jun Guo turn overwork and mental health problems of some workers into a causal relationship, we were not only hurt but also surprised." "Mr. Jun Guo has never visited any of Foxconn’s parks in the future, but it is too hasty to convince people to throw such a causal relationship."

The factory of Foxconn, a Taiwan-funded enterprise, is mainly located in Chinese mainland, with 1.3 million employees at its peak. Foxconn has been criticized by the outside world for its large number of employees and many employee suicides.

On January 21, 2015, workers took a lunch break at the Foxconn factory in Longhua New District, Shenzhen.

As the world’s largest electronics foundry, Foxconn is faced with the dilemma of working overtime or not. For more than one million Foxconn employees, their mentality is also contradictory. Xinhua recently interviewed Foxconn employees on the spot.

"Work overtime to earn enough money and go home to buy a house!"

Jimson (pseudonym), who worked in Foxconn Yantai and Zhengzhou for two years, still keeps the payroll at that time. On this payroll in May 2012, the reporter saw that Jimson, who had been employed for 14 months at that time, had a basic salary of 1,800 yuan and an overtime salary of 387.75 yuan. After deducting accommodation and meals, his actual salary was 1,674.82 yuan.

Jimson said that Foxconn’s basic salary is fixed and low, and it depends entirely on overtime to get high income. This makes employees generally have an ambivalent attitude towards overtime. "According to Foxconn’s regulations, overtime pay is usually 1.5 times the basic salary, 2 times on Saturdays and 3 times on holidays. Overtime pay is higher than salary, and overtime pay can often account for more than 60% of monthly income."

To this end, many employees are not exclusive to overtime, and even willing to rush to work overtime. An employee who once worked at Foxconn in Zhengzhou said that the deepest impression on Foxconn was the "overtime culture". He said that in Foxconn, overtime work is not only like a "daily routine", but also a "hot cake" that everyone competes for, and "no overtime work" is an effective punishment measure for employees.

Li Fang (a pseudonym), a 24-year-old Nanyang girl, is Foxconn, who is working for overtime pay: "No skills are hard work everywhere, but at Foxconn, more efforts can make more money."

Since Foxconn’s front-line workers are mostly young people in their twenties, there are not a few people who have similar ideas. "If you want to work in Foxconn now, you will ask in advance which factory has more overtime, and they are all rushing to enter the factory with more overtime." Chen Wei (a pseudonym), a Shanxi guy who works at Foxconn, told reporters this way. He once heard that someone had worked at Foxconn for four or five years and went home to buy a house, which made him envious. "I also want to save more money, so I can go back to my hometown and buy a house in the future. Now I have to have a house for my wife."

Coincidentally, Guo Taiming, chairman of Foxconn, once said at the shareholders’ meeting that "80% to 90% of employees like to work overtime, and they can go back to their hometown to buy a house in the future if they earn more money". Foxconn employees, do they really "like" working overtime?

"Don’t look at your watch and don’t think about anything."

Xiao Qin, who left Foxconn last year, has found a new job. She still clearly remembers the days when she worked on the assembly line: "People are like a machine, just walking dead."

Xiao Qin’s earliest work at Foxconn was on the code spraying line. Simply put, it is nothing more than putting the product on the assembly line, spraying the code or date when passing through the inkjet printer, and then loading it into the box. This job is not very technical, but it is not easy. "The arm goes back and forth, and it will be sour for a while, but the assembly line can’t stop, and the movement can’t stop. After a while, it will be numb. When I return to the dormitory, I find that my arm is too stiff to lift."

The work of the assembly line is boring, and once you work overtime, the work intensity is even greater. Especially at the peak of production capacity, employees are often forced to work overtime for a long time in order to complete tasks on time. Xiao Qin said that when I work overtime, I always feel that the time is particularly long, and my heart can’t help but be agitated. "Later, I found that I don’t want to think about anything, don’t look at my watch, forget myself, and time will pass quickly." 　 　 　 　

Most people resist overtime, but they can’t let go and can’t live without it, so they have to work overtime. Jimson (a pseudonym) told reporters the original words of a line leader: "(As long as employees have it), they don’t want to work overtime once, and I have the right to let you not get an extra class from now on." Overtime is to not lose your job, to not offend the line leader, and to work overtime more in the future.

There are also some people who can’t stand such work and finally choose to leave. An employee who has worked in Foxconn for many years said that in most Foxconn factories, the proportion of front-line workers accounts for more than 70% of all employees, and the workers on this part of the production line are very mobile. "Walking among workers may basically be just a few months or even a few days. There are fewer people who can work here for more than a year, and most people still can’t stand this pain."

Faced with the criticism of the secretary of the Secretariat of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, Foxconn questioned that "Mr. Jun Guo has never visited any of Foxconn’s parks in the future, which is rather hasty and difficult to convince."

"The trade union should open the appeal channel"

Obviously unwilling to work overtime, but forced to work overtime, even forced by reality, how to solve the dilemma of Foxconn employees?

Wang Zhongwu, a sociology professor at Shandong University, said that whether employees work overtime or not is also a dilemma for them. Therefore, under the premise of abiding by the law, we should strengthen the strength of trade unions and improve the labor welfare system. Trade unions can communicate with employers on behalf of workers, and can actively intervene in enterprise management, planning, decision-making, wage distribution, etc. "No matter whether it is the employer or the laborer, the realization of the rights of either party cannot deprive or infringe on the interests of the other party."

Wang Zhongwu pointed out that, in theory, trade unions are an important force to restrict business owners from arbitrarily infringing employees’ interests. However, in many foreign-funded or private enterprises in China, trade union organizations are basically ineffective, which can neither represent the interests of employees and equal dialogue with managers, nor perform their duties of participating in enterprise management.

"Because the situation of each factory and each worker is different, the agreement on labor relations and working hours should be flexible and based on negotiation between employers and employees." Wang Zhongwu believes that if workers feel that their rights and interests are affected, they need a reasonable channel to express their demands, and this channel should undoubtedly be opened by trade unions.

Labor scholars question Foxconn’s open letter: Foxconn is lying, and the real situation is more serious.

The opening-up drama presented by Foxconn in 2015 was a slobber. On February 2nd, Mr. Jun Guo, Secretary of the Secretariat of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions and Minister of Legal Affairs, criticized Foxconn by name at the press conference held by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, accusing it of illegally arranging workers to work overtime for a long time for a long time, resulting in various mental health problems of some workers, resulting in karoshi or suicide from time to time. Foxconn responded immediately with high efficiency. On February 3rd, an article entitled "We are not perfect, but please pay attention to our progress-Foxconn Technology Group declares and discusses with Mr. Jun Guo" appeared in major media.

Looking at Foxconn’s discussion, the first thing is to refute: "There is no relationship between employees’ long-term overtime and karoshi and suicide." Infinitely wronged Foxconn Group said: I didn’t push the workers to jump off the building, which has nothing to do with me. Then there is cheating: "Long-term overtime of workers is a problem faced by all manufacturing enterprises." Then he said affectedly, overtime work is not my family, so why bother me? Finally, he shamelessly said, "Mr. Jun Guo has never visited any of Foxconn’s parks in the future, but it is too hasty to convince people to throw out such a causal relationship."