“Following a string of suicides at its Chinese factories, Foxconn Technology Group raised workers’ wages and installed safety nets on buildings to catch would-be jumpers. Now the often secretive manufacturer of the iPhone and other electronics is holding rallies for its workers to raise morale at the heavily regimented factories,” Gillian Wong reports for The Associated Press.
“The outreach to workers shows how Foxconn has been shaken by the suicides and the bad press they have attracted to the normally publicity shy company. The latest suicide — the 12th this year — occurred August 4 when a 22-year-old woman jumped from her factory dormitory in eastern Jiangsu province,” Wong reports. “The motivational rallies are titled ‘Treasure Your Life, Love Your Family, Care for Each Other to Build a Wonderful Future’ and will be held at all facilities in China, according to Burson Marsteller, a public relations firm representing Foxconn. ‘For a long period of time I think we were kind of blinded by our success,’ said Louis Woo, special assistant to Terry Gou, the founder of Foxconn’s parent company. ‘We were kind of caught by surprise.'”
“The rally Wednesday was taking place at Foxconn’s mammoth industrial park in Shenzhen, which employs 300,000 and where most of the suicides took place,” Wong reports. “In May, Gou promised to work harder to prevent more deaths. More counselors were being hired and employees also were being assigned to 50-person groups to watch one another for signs of emotional trouble.”
Wong reports, “Foxconn also announced two raises, more than doubling the basic worker pay to 2,000 yuan (US$293) a month at the Shenzhen compound. But workers have to pass a three-month review period before they qualify for the second raise.”
Full article here.
Foxconn: Slow down the conveyor belts. It’s like Lucy in the chocolate factory, only no one is laughing.
Yeah, send them back to the fields to make 50 yuan a month. I worked on a production line making MG sedans in Oxford, England. The line went so fast that another worker had to take over when I took toilet time (3 minutes). Or go to another factory where the suicide rate is lower. It’s still higher in parts of the US. Give me a break. I didn’t get double wages either. I was on piece-work and could make a lot of money. Hard work – but worth it until I came to the USA and was able make even more. Stop bailing out the union retirement scams. Vote in November, get some real change and hope. Next time I’ll tell what I really think!
What do they do to boost morale? Sing songs?
“Don’t be stupid, be a smarty, come and join communist party!”
Yeah, that’s it. Be Slave Labor and eat cake too!
Foxconn is just an unfortunate one, being the maker of Apple products. If you dig a bit deeper, you’ll discover that Foxconn suicide rate is actually somewhat lower than the average for Chinese factories (and they have thousands of them, making everything for the rest of the world, from toasters, to toys, to electronics). The guys are the only ones in the spotlight because of Apple.
And all these suicides aren’t caused by the bleak working conditions. This is another problem that goes unreported. Those who commit suicides do so in order for their families to cash in on life insurance (mandatory in these factories). Oftentimes, this is because the family (or the worker himself/herself) took on too much debt (perhaps they borrowed for someone to get smuggled to America and are now paying it off), and insurance payout is the only way out.
So, how do you fix this problem? Organize a government-sponsored rally?? Not sure it would do much, as long as the life insurance continues to be paid out for suicide cases.
“Mao says you will be happy! Or the beatings will continue until morale improves!”
The workers are jumping to their deaths not because they are being worked too hard, but because most of Apple’s electronics are now nearly 100% machine assembled and is setting the standards for other PC makers to follow.
So as a final opportunity to wring more cash out of Foxcon for their families who are using their children as tools, they are committing suicide on the job.
Whenever you get a great congregation of people in a area, the quality of human life falls sharply.
Take for instance seeing someone on the side of the road. In a small town, a driver passing would likely either wave or stop to say hello.
In a big city they are likely to call you a name, give you the finger or shoot you.
Remember, China has a 50% population reduction policy in place. So families are supposed to have only one child. Perhaps mom got pregnant again or the parents don’t like the child they have already. Mothers wanting another child can do some strange things, if that means driving their first child to commit suicide and even profit from it, so be it. They can have another.
“Dock that chink a day’s pay for sleeping on the job!”
To make is simple: suicides will disappear if life insurance policies are modified to exclude payout in suicide cases.
@NCIceman
“History of the World, Part 1”, right?
Anyone here actually been to China? The reality might surprise. Given the current and growing labor shortage, workers have multiple possibilities for jobs, and conditions have improved substantially since the labor laws were revised in 2008. Workers now feel confident enough to launch strikes. Visiting JInghong (in southern Yunnan) last winter I was duly amazed to see all the taxi drivers on strike over, gasp, a city parking policy. The situation at mom and pop factories may still be antediluvian, but “slave labor” in Foxconn? LOL. More likely to be found in Vietnam these days.
NOTICE: Floggings will continue until morale improves.fflogg(409) 796-1853
I should have added another point, there is this thing called the “birth order” . Most of the time, because of the behaviors inexperienced parents exert on their new child, the child tends to grow up being a perfectionist and constantly trying to strive and please their parents.
Because of China’s one child rule, there are a lot of “first born” children running around. also a lot of parent still stuck in the “you got to be a doctor!” personality mode. Guess in China it’s “you got to bring more money home!” This family stress for money, combined with the stress of working a factory job, is likely the reason for the suicides at work and not at home.
The suicide rate at Foxconn is about 1/5 that at American colleges and universities. Morale is not the problem. The problem is Foxconn assembles for Apple and Apple haters are everywhere.
It’s strange, Microsoft Haters use Microsoft software. Apple haters do not use Apple products. Those psycho bastards!
Cubert that is funny . That movie is a classic
@ron
Well said- hopefully- November will put a stop to this era of “handouts, bailouts and un-accountability”.
Move these jobs to the USA.
Move these jobs to the USA.
I’m sure they’ll do it, as soon as they put together enough workers willing to work for $293 per month (and that is the salary after they recently doubled it)..
You see, the suicides have paid off, the salary has doubled.
Now comes more suicides to double the salary again.
Those Chinese, so clever!
@Uncle Al
Beaumont, Texas?
And using that new Windows 7 feature that adds to the current contents of the clipboard too. Or else you wouldn’t have posted your phone number.
haha! your busted as a Mac wannabee
“You see, the suicides have paid off, the salary has doubled.
Now comes more suicides to double the salary again.
Those Chinese, so clever!”
They’re dying to get a raise.
Move these jobs to the south, southeast US and Apple can still make money.
Predrag, you don’t know what you are talking about.