The work itself, Ma said, isn't really all that bad. Mundane, yes. But not overwhelming. She puts in eight-hour days, five days a week, and tries to get as much overtime as possible. That's because the pay barely covers her needs.
She earns the 1,550 renminbi, or $244, a month that was common for Foxconn entry-level workers here before the August 1 raise. But after she pays rent for a bunk bed in a dormitory room that she shares with seven other Foxconn workers and purchasing food that she often buys at Foxconn's canteen, there's generally no money left to send back to her home. And she's terribly worried about rumors that property management company that runs the dorms in which she and 85 percent of the Zhengzhou workforce live is going to increase its rent.
For her, the answer is overtime. Ma tries to add as much overtime as she can to supplement her salary. After media reports surfaced about Foxconn allowing overtime in excess of Chinese law, which limits overtime to 36 hours a month, her boss has limited her opportunities to work longer shifts.
