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Another Foxconn worker dies after fall
at China plant
TEN SO FAR: Taiwanese firm Hon Hai has been hit hard by a
wave of suicides and suicide attempts among its employees in Shenzhen and Hebei
AP AND REUTERS, GUANGZHOU, CHINA
Wednesday, May 26, 2010, Page 1
Protestors from SACOM (Students and Scholars
Against Corporate Misbehavior) throw paper as part of a ceremony to mourn the
dead during a demonstration outside the offices of Foxconn Technology Group in
Hong Kong yesterday after a death of worker at the firm’s giant Shenzhen factory
complex.
PHOTO: AFP
A Chinese employee of Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) fell from a building
and died yesterday, China’s state-run media said, in the 10th such death this
year at the world’s largest contract maker of electronics.
Police have yet to determine if the victim, Li Hai (李海), 19, committed suicide
after working at the plant for only 42 days, Xinhua news agency reported and
quoted sources saying the man left a suicide note, apologizing to his father.
Foxconn did not immediately comment on the death.
Police are investigating whether the death was suicide or an accident, but the
death is the ninth at Foxconn’s massive plant in 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 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 workforce.
About a dozen labor activists protested at Foxconn offices in Hong Kong
yesterday. 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.
However, 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.
“We are certainly not running a sweatshop. We are confident we’ll be able to
stabilize the situation soon,” the group’s founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) told
reporters on Monday.
Yesterday’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 on Friday. His motivations were still not known.
“This is really a public relations crisis for Foxconn,” said Jenny Lai (賴惠娟), an
analyst at CLSA in Taipei. “The key right now is for the company to get out
there and reassure their clients that they have put in place a system that will
ensure that any new cases are minimized.”
Foxconn, known in Taiwan by the name of its parent Hon Hai Precision Industry Co
(鴻海精密), is the world’s largest contract maker of computer components and
electronics such as the iPod, Nokia phones and Dell computers.
Foxconn shares dived 9.7 percent to HK$5.31 (US$0.68) in Hong Kong trading and
shares of Hon Hai fell 4.91 percent to NT$126 in Taipei.
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