Chinese Workers Get Raise

Workers at the huge Fox Conn electronics factory in mainland China will reportedly be getting a 30% salary increase.The factory has been troubled by a cluster of worker suicides lately.There have been 12 attempts at suicide,10 of them successful.Terry Gou,Taiwan's wealthiest man,owns Fox Conn,which does work for tech titans Apple,Hewlett Packard and Dell.
Asked why there were so many suicides at his plant,Mr.Gou replied that he didn't know why.Each individual had a different story.There are 300,000 workers in the vast factory.One of them said he works 12 hours a day,with two hours off for lunch.He described it as a boring job and said some workers have romantic problems,but he didn't think that was enough to cause suicides.One victim's family has been protesting outside the factory for more than three months,determined to continue until they are satisfied.
Mr.Gou bowed in a public apology for the tragic events at his enterprise.He spoke in a humble tone of voice,seeming genuinely concerned.Fox Conn has been criticized as being a sweat shop,and workers at a Honda plant have been complaining about poor wages.
Mental health has been much in the news in China in recent months.In addition to the worker suicides,there have been a series of brutal attacks on children,resulting in many deaths.