Foxconn workers worried by shorter work weeks

Reuters reports many Foxconn employees are worried and unhappy by landmark concessions from the giant electronics assembly firm, which include cutting overtime and promising compensation that protects them against losing income. Employees have a hard time understanding that their pay wouldn't be cut along with their hours, and are worried they'll have less money to spend and save because they can now only work a maximum of 36 hours a month of overtime:

But at the Foxconn factory gates, many workers seemed unconvinced that their pay wouldn't be cut along with their hours. For some Chinese factory workers - who make much of their income from long hours of overtime - the idea of less work for the same pay could take getting used to.

"We are worried we will have less money to spend. Of course, if we work less overtime, it would mean less money," said Wu, a 23-year-old employee from Hunan province in south China.

Foxconn said it will reduce working hours to 49 per week, including overtime.

"We are here to work and not to play, so our income is very important," said Chen Yamei, 25, a Foxconn worker from Hunan who said she had worked at the factory for four years.

"We have just been told that we can only work a maximum of 36 hours a month of overtime. I tell you, a lot of us are unhappy with this. We think that 60 hours of overtime a month would be reasonable and that 36 hours would be too little," she added. Chen said she now earned a bit over 4,000 yuan a month.