Following the recent unexplained suicides of ten Foxconn employees at the company’s factory in Shenzhen, China, Apple supposedly plans to pay Foxconn workers directly by means of profit share.
Early reports indicate that this would involve 1-2% of the profit made by Apple going directly to Foxconn workers in an attempt to boost employee moral, which is undoubtably at an all time low.
In the past Foxconn have received heavy criticism for their employment practices, and it's no secret that Apple have had to investigate the company several times - beginning in June 2006, when claims of abuse within the workplace were made against the China-based company. Since this first investigation employee suicides have been occurring at a steady rate, with five cases happening between June 2007 and August 2009.
However the suicide rate of Foxconn employees rocketed at the beginning of this year, and Apple has been forced to investigate the company once again.
Rumours of Apple’s profit share incentive were originally made on a Chinese news website, though they have not yet been supported by either Apple or Foxconn. We're guessing that if the rumours are true, it won't take long for Steve to announce his 'good deed for the day' - we'll be posting if we hear anything.
