Electronics manufacturer Foxconn said it has settled a pay dispute with workers at one of its China factories after the employees protested last week by threatening to commit suicide, The New York Times reported.
Foxconn, the largest contract electronics manufacturer in the world, makes products for such high-profile customers as Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Sony, among others. The company said it has peacefully settled the dispute, in which employees claimed they were denied compensation promised to them.
Most of the workers who participated in the protest agreed to return to work following negations between the company and government officials, according to the newspaper. The company did not release details of the agreement. Forty-five employees resigned over the issue.
The protest took place last week at a plant in Wuhan, China that makes Xbox 360s. The company said the protest involved about 150 of its 32,000 employees. Earlier reports, however, said 300 individuals were involved in a mass suicide threat.
One individual who participated in the protest told the Times that the workers had been transferred from a Foxconn facility in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen to the factory in Wuhan. They were promised $450 a month in salary, plus overtime pay but when they got there, they were given about a third less than what was agreed upon and the conditions in Wuhan were much more difficult.
The workers protested by going to the top of a building and some threatened to jump.
“The welfare of our employees is our top priority, and we are committed to ensuring that all employees are treated fairly and that their rights are fully protected,” Foxconn said in a statement obtained by the Times.
Suicide at Foxconn has been a serious problem in the past. At least 14 Foxconn workers in plants in the Chinese cities of Shenzen and Chengdu have taken their own lives since a string of worker suicides began in early 2010.