Nokia, Sony join chorus of concern over China factory

[ Business ] 2010-05-30

Nokia, Sony join chorus of concern over China factory

Technology giants Nokia and Sony on Friday joined a chorus of concern over labour conditions at a vast assembly plant in China after yet another attempted suicide by a worker who slashed his wrists. The companies said they were looking into conditions at the factory in the southern economic zone of Shenzhen run by Taiwanese supplier Foxconn, following similar pledges by Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Dell. In an apparent effort to confront a growing tide of bad publicity over the suicides, Foxconn announced Friday a 20 percent rise in salaries at its China plants. The vow came as Chinese media reported another employee survived a suicide bid on Thursday at the vast plant, where 10 have died recently in apparent suicides. An 11th worker died at a Foxconn factory in northern China.