Protesters from
SACOM (Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour) burn
effigies of Apple products in Hong Kong Wednesday during a
demonstration over a string of suicides by Foxconn
employees.
By Guo Qiang and Ji
Beibei
Folding under the strain of their jobs or perhaps as an extreme
show of protest, some Foxconn Technology Group employees are
literally jumping to their deaths, and the number of apparent
suicides reached double digits Wednesday.
So far this year, it appears 12 employees have attempted to kill
themselves, mainly by jumping from their dormitories. Two were
unsuccessful. And another employee died of a heart attack in her
dorm.
The total number of dead stood at 11 Wednesday, and the toll has
led to accusations that the Taiwan-based electronics maker is
running sweatshops. Psychological experts have also expressed
concern for the general well-being of people's health amid major
societal changes.
Li Hai, 19, a vocational-school graduate from central Hunan
Province, plunged from a building at Foxconn's Guanlan plant in
Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, at 6:20 am Wednesday. He had worked
there just 42 days, according to Chen Hongfang, director of
Foxconn's labor union office, who spoke to reporters Wednesday.
Pending the outcome of an investigation, police declined
Wednesday to rule the death a suicide.
But sources familiar with the incident told the Xinhua News
Agency Wednesday that the man left a note, which was addressed to
his father, saying, "I have no capabilities. I have gotten what I
deserve."
The latest death was the ninth at Foxconn's massive factory
complex in Shenzhen, which employs 420,000 people, more than half
of its global staff. The two employees who survived their jumps
were also from that plant.
The two remaining deaths occurred at a Foxconn plant in
Langfang, north Hebei Province, in January and February,
respectively. Rong Bo died after jumping off the company's
dormitory building January 8. And Wang Lingyan, 16, died from a
heart attack suffered in her dor-mitory February 23.
A Foxconn employee in Shenzhen, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, told the Global Times Wednesday that the company had
requested that staff members sign contracts stipulating that
"families of any employee who resorts to self-injury or suicide
will not get compensation from Foxconn."
The statement also said that employees exhibiting abnormal
behavior must undergo medical checkups that the company would
arrange, according to the source, who said he had worked at the
plant for more than four years.
"The prescribed work time is from 8 am to 5:30 pm, but workers
must come at least 20 minutes earlier and usually leave at 8 pm or
9 pm. They have only two hours for lunch and dinner, and 10 minutes
of rest every two hours," he said.
"Some managers often verbally abuse workers."
Foxconn President Terry Gou Wednesday refuted claims that it
operates sweatshops. Speaking in Taipei, he also promised to
stabilize the situation at the company.
But the spate of apparent suicides has led to a firestorm of
criticism against Foxconn by labor groups. US-based China Labor
Watch has criticized Foxconn's "military-style administration and
harsh working conditions," calling on the company to "initiate a
thoroughgoing analysis of life on its production lines," according
to media reports.
Additionally, more than 30 labor activists from the Hong Kong
Confederation of Trade Unions gathered Wednesday at a local Foxconn
office.
They held up paper cutouts of people and asked the company to
improve its management, said Chan Chiuwai, a protester at the
site.
"Military-style discipline on the workforce has created
unbearable pressure among workers. We are urging the contractor to
improve working con-ditions and relations between managers and
workers, as well as among workers," he said.
Xinhua reported Wednesday that multiple investigations carried
out by local authorities have ruled out a direct connection between
the employees' deaths and Foxconn's management techniques.
The company started playing music on its assembly line this
month to relieve some of the workers' stress, and it is also
recruiting more than 2,000 singers, dancers and gym trainers, and a
number of psychiatrists. It also even installed three-meter-tall
fences around dormitory buildings to stop employees from
jumping.
In addition to the counselors, Foxconn even went as far as to
invite monks from Wutai Mountain to dispel misfortune among its
employees.
Foxconn is part of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, the
world's largest maker of consumer electronics for companies that
include Apple, Nokia and Sony.
Fan Fumin, a professor of psychology at Tsinghua University,
argued in an interview with China Central Television that the
suicide rate among Foxconn employees, which has climbed to about
two or three per 100,000, is not that high compared with the latest
data released by the World Health Organization, that says the
average suicide rate in China is 13 per 100,000 men and 14.8 per
100,000 women.
Yu Guoliang, a professor of social psychology at Renmin
University of China, told the Global Times that the spate of
suicides was triggered by imitation.
"Youngsters are easily affected by others and take extreme
actions when they live in an enclosed environment and lack
communication with different people," Yu said.
"China is undergoing a huge societal transformation. Some of its
people can easily get lost given such a fast pace of development,"
Yu said. "Once their expectations, and sometimes illusions, can't
be satisfied, they are very prone to abnormal mental states."
Kang Juan contributed to this story
http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2010-05/535372.html
http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2010-05/535372_2.html
