You may want to think twice before buying an iPod, Dell computer or Nokia phone. Apparently Foxconn Technology Group, the world’s largest electronics manufacturing plant, doesn’t have the greatest of working conditions for its employees. Although who’s to say that any of the other factories in China are significantly better. Certainly by American standards they may all be considered to be sweatshops. It’s not by coincidence that Chinese products are cheaper than those of Japan or Germany for instance. TGO
Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press
GUANGZHOU, China – A Chinese employee of Foxconn Technology Group jumped from a building to his death Tuesday, state-run media said, in the 10th suicide this year at the world’s largest contract maker of electronics, such as the iPod, Dell computers and Nokia phones.
Police said Li Hai, 19, killed himself after working at the plant for only 42 days, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Foxconn did not immediately comment on the death.
The suicide is the ninth at Foxconn’s massive plant in the southern city of Shenzhen, which employs more than 300,000 people. Two other workers have tried to kill themselves by jumping from buildings in Shenzhen but they survived. Another suicide occurred at a smaller plant in northern Hebei province in January.
Labor activists say the string of suicides back up their long-standing allegations that workers toil in terrible conditions at Foxconn. They claim shifts are long, the assembly line moves too fast and managers enforce military-style discipline on the work force.
In Hong Kong on Tuesday, about a dozen labor activists protested at Foxconn offices in the Chinese territory. They held signs that said, “Foxconn lacks a conscience” and “Suicide is no accident.” The protesters from the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions burned cardboard cutouts resembling iPhones.
But Foxconn has insisted that workers are treated well and are protected by social responsibility programs that ensure their welfare. The Shenzhen factory is perennially a popular place to work, with hordes of applicants lining up for jobs during the hiring season.
On Monday, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou told reporters, “We are certainly not running a sweatshop. We are confident we’ll be able to stabilize the situation soon.”
Tuesday’s reported death came just three days after a 21-year-old man who worked in the logistics department jumped from a four-story building shortly after finishing the night shift Friday. His motivations were still not known.
The highest-profile Foxconn death happened last July when Sun Danyong, 25, jumped to his death after being interrogated over a missing iPhone prototype.
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Associated Press writers Debby Wu in Taipei, Min Lee in Hong Kong and researcher Zhao Liang in Beijing contributed to this report.
