Another Foxconn suicide*

[AyatollahPies]

Despite Safety Nets Foxconn Staffer Falls to Death

 

Who on earth even thought up the concept of putting a no-suicide clause in contracts?

 

They even have nets around the factory to (try to) stop employees from jumping.

 

What a truly sad state of affairs.

 

 

* Could have been an accident, but pigs might also be known to fly.

[jimmy_2k]

Are the working conditions really that bad?! They get a dormatory and more than likely 3 meals a day

[Jamman960]

The article says 800,000 people are employed at the plant, no idea how big the plant is but I'm guessing that living conditions aren't great, they've also more than doubled production-line worker pay... seems a bit crazy to me, how can any company afford to double so many workers pay unless they are seriously underpaying people and generally treating them badly.

[AyatollahPies]

Are the working conditions really that bad?! They get a dormatory and more than likely 3 meals a day

 

So do guests at Her Majesty's pleasure.

[Guest Guest]

So do guests at Her Majesty's pleasure.

 

And they have above average living conditions even for this country

[dwhyte85]

It's absolutely terrible.

 

I don't know the shifts they work but the deal they're getting isn't that bad, I know you've compared it to prison and I've read the shifts are terrible, most of China working conditions aren't too different from what I've read, then again, as it's a high profile company as they work with large corps... I guess it is more shocking or at least reported on more because of the connections.

 

The fact they've put anti-suicide nets in... shows the mentality, prevent a death not hit the root cause, a few counsellors... isn't going to really cut it.

 

Has to be more to it than meets the eye, I doubt it'll ever get fully investigated. Of course all my opinions, nothing is based on fact and only on what i've read.

[AngryTechnician]

The WHO's official (though admittedly old) figures peg the suicide rate in China at almost 14 per 100,000 annually. At 800,000 employees, Foxconn would have over a hundred per year if they were tracking the national average.

 

I'm not saying the conditions are great, but statistically speaking, workers there are less likely to commit suicide than the average person in China.

[aerospacemango]

I think it might also be worth looking at comparable-sized companies, and checking their suicide rates.

 

The thing is.....although there is no condoning the conditions that these people work in, it is all too easy to be looking in from the outside, and decrying $300 a month as inhuman. However, if your cost of living is significantly cheaper than elsewhere, then it really doesn't matter how much you earn.

 

I think this is probably being blown out of all proportion, imho.

[Andrew_C]

The article says 800,000 people are employed at the plant,

Other articles give that as a company wide figure, which is still a huge number, but more believable. Southampton has a population of 200,000 or so...

[FN-GM]

requested that staff sign no-suicide contracts

 

Like that will work. Is the person who signed the contract going to care if they are dead?

[dwhyte85]

I also read the staff were being beasted for iPhone, iPad thefts and were threatened if they were thought to have stolen stuff.

 

Scary, I doubt it'd be an easy task finding out suicide rates at other companies, who's to say the 18 reported aren't just a small proportion of the actual deaths... I doubt it though, the press are pretty good at that kind of background work.

[AyatollahPies]

And just outside of the photo we have some nice chaps pointing big guns I imagine.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00435/Pg-24-foxconn-ap_435061t.jpg

 

Foxconn gets the pompoms out to raise morale at 'suicide factory' - Asia, World - The Independent

[aerospacemango]

I also read the staff were being beasted for iPhone, iPad thefts and were threatened if they were thought to have stolen stuff.

 

Scary, I doubt it'd be an easy task finding out suicide rates at other companies, who's to say the 18 reported aren't just a small proportion of the actual deaths... I doubt it though, the press are pretty good at that kind of background work.

 

But who's to say that these 18 suicides are ALL to do with the work?

 

What percentage are because Wai Ling, on the next machine, has fallen in love with Chen Leng, but he does not love her? Why is it assumed that these are ALL due to working conditions?

 

The press can also be incredibly rubbish at that kind of background work!

[gizmo2005]

Maybe we should post this link over to British airways, the way to get a raise is 4 of your staff members need to commit suicide!!!! thats it no more strikes, managers will start hiring slaughter staff so that they can get them selves a rise lol,

[gizmo2005]

wai ling is in love with chen leng, but i thought Wai Ling wanted Sam sung and le Chung, now im confussed, maybe its beacause they have been told that someone in the building with a surname on chen or lee really likes you but you have to work out wich one it is, that would mess with anyones head lol

[AyatollahPies]

But who's to say that these 18 suicides are ALL to do with the work?

 

 

Because they committed suicide at work? Most folk seem to jump under a train, jump from a bridge onto a Motorway or find a piece of rope to dangle from a tree.

 

Perhaps it's the despair of living and working under the same complex and being little more than a factory hen.

 

There's no smoke without fire.

[aerospacemango]

Because they committed suicide at work? Most folk seem to jump under a train, jump from a bridge onto a Motorway or find a piece of rope to dangle from a tree.

 

Hmmmm....Be interested to know where you get your stats from, for chinese suicides.

 

What you MEANT to say was IN THIS COUNTRY most folk, etc etc etc.

 

And as for the despair of living and working in the same complex......How do the rest of us survive? I've spent nearly 2 years on the same campus....before that I spent 6 years in the same casino, being little more than a "factory hen", so I think your broad strokes of an argument should be taken with a pinch of salt?

[localzuk]

Hmmmm....Be interested to know where you get your stats from, for chinese suicides.

 

What you MEANT to say was IN THIS COUNTRY most folk, etc etc etc.

 

And as for the despair of living and working in the same complex......How do the rest of us survive? I've spent nearly 2 years on the same campus....before that I spent 6 years in the same casino, being little more than a "factory hen", so I think your broad strokes of an argument should be taken with a pinch of salt?

 

I think you should not apply your personal experience, in this country, to the working conditions in China. Very, very different.

[AyatollahPies]

Hmmmm....Be interested to know where you get your stats from, for chinese suicides.

 

What you MEANT to say was IN THIS COUNTRY most folk, etc etc etc.

 

And as for the despair of living and working in the same complex......How do the rest of us survive? I've spent nearly 2 years on the same campus....before that I spent 6 years in the same casino, being little more than a "factory hen", so I think your broad strokes of an argument should be taken with a pinch of salt?

 

Take it with a pinch of Salt then.

[aerospacemango]

Ok then, how about Israel, or Romania or Greece?

 

I do have experience of working in different countries and with different cultures and the question still remains....

 

How does anyone else "cope" with "the despair of living and working under the same complex and being little more than a factory hen." People do, in every country and every culture, from the sweatshops of SE Asia, to the coal mines of NE England.

[dwhyte85]

What sort of company gets people to wear 'I love company' t-shirts... lol

 

It looks very much like they're trying to give the impression that things are just dandy when they're probably not. I have read, (the Internet isn't 100% fact... so don't go emo on me...) that they used to have a very good death in service benefit - this is now stopped and the other story read how they were interrogated regularly to ensure nobody stole apple products. Maybe some was trying to look after families, maybe a few was because guilt from nicking bits or fed up with being bullied... maybe some was just they hated the job.

 

China is very good at keeping it's country at bay, you have to wonder if this is only a part of the real extent what goes on. Then again, it may all be just coincidence, people killing themselves because they're just unhappy... they did try and rid the place of demons, maybe that's the issue...

Edited August 20, 2010 by dwhyte85

[Guest Guest]

Ok then, how about Israel, or Romania or Greece?

 

I do have experience of working in different countries and with different cultures and the question still remains....

 

How does anyone else "cope" with "the despair of living and working under the same complex and being little more than a factory hen." People do, in every country and every culture, from the sweatshops of SE Asia, to the coal mines of NE England.

 

Coal mines?

[Andrew_C]

The WHO's official (though admittedly old) figures peg the suicide rate in China at almost 14 per 100,000 annually.

...and ours would seem to be about as bad, and even worse for men. National Statistics Office

[aerospacemango]

Coal mines?

 

 

Apologies...I may have been typing historically, then!

 

Any job has the potential to be like a factory hen.....But we don't all choose that way out.

 

As has been stated before, in another thread on the same lines, the suicide rate is not that different to ours, so why all the fuss? Is it because that's where they make iPhones?

 

Well, simple answer....stop buying Apple products!

[AyatollahPies]

Foxconn faces leaked report of worker abuse, violence ? The Register

 

Looks like the management of Foxconn are a set of scumbags after all.