There's something terribly wrong at Foxconn Technology - the thirteenth person tried to kill themselves at the massive Apple/Sony/Hewlett-Packard factory in China. Another worker decided to end it all and cut himself in his dormitory room, he's now surviving in hospital. The 25 year old man is from out of town and started work at the Foxconn two months ago. The 12 previous suicide attempts were workers who jumped from buildings and only 2 survived.
Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou said he promised to work harder to prevent more deaths. He said he couldn't sleep at night and dreaded answering his phone after hours, fearing more news about suicide. His way of handling the situation was to install safety nets on buildings to catch would-be jumpers.
So what's going on in this factory, what's the problem? Labour activists accuse the company of having a rigid management style, a too-fast assembly line, and overwork. Naturally, the company denies this.
Foxconn, part of Taiwan-owned Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, is the world's largest contract maker of electronics. Its long list of big names include Apple, Sony, Dell, Nokia and Hewlett-Packard. So the next time you use your iPod or iPad, spare a thought for these people who make them on the human assembly line from hell.
No comments:
Post a Comment