Foxconn suicides incense workers

Workers at Chinese firm Foxconn accuse the company's management of inhumanity and indifference to working conditions.


http://www.smh.com.au/technology/tec...0526-wddd.html

It's not Apple, but their China-based contractor Foxconn that employs 300,000 workers. The work 90+ hour weeks and get paid $150 a month. Wouldn't you kill yourself?

Nokia stopped using ODMs in China last year, altough I doubt that the conditions are any better in Nokia's own factories in China.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE52Q6Q820090327
http://tmenguy.free.fr/TechBlog/?p=363

http://www.who.int/mental_health/pre...cide_rates/en/

If I'm getting the contents of above link right, 9 in an year is still below the rate of average population, ~ 14 per 100000 per year. So expected yearly amount of suicides in population of 300000 would be 42.

Am I missing something?

Certainly I'm not trying to say that everything is good with the working enviroment for these factory employees. I'm just saying that all the press publicity around the issue might be a bit sensationalist.

You are oversimplying the national statistics to a sub-population.

Those national level suicides are mostly done by:
-People who are terminally ill
-People with financial difficulties (unemployment, banktruptcy, etc)
-Take place at home or hospital

The Foxconn suicides are committed:
-People in health well enough for physical work at a production facility
-People who are employed
-Done at work and seemingly as a protest against employer

In other words, they aren't typical suicides committed by the kind of people who normally kill themselves.

There's definately lot of sensationalism involved. Horrible working conditions in chinese factories have been known for a longtime. Foxconn workers are propably better off than most chinese factory workers. But we get our stuff cheaply thanks to them. So no worries, until cool brand gets involved.

One world, one country?
Their average pay is higher than the regional average where their factory is situated. Let's not assume everyone came from the same living condition as yourself/all you're familiar with..

living in Hong Kong, the Foxconn suicides are front-page news here.
the current take on that here is:

a) 9 cases are just the cases known so far. at least 1 other known case has been originally, through 'pr' work with police and local governments, officially reported as a natural-causes death. in another known case the victim has been officially recorded as 'unidentified person', but now is know to have been another Foxconn employee.
thus the question all ask is "are 9 suicides all there have been, or have there been a lot more?"

b) Foxconn known military-style management employees, their work AND personal life is being questioned and scrutinized. majority of employees live in dormitories on the factory grounds, and are under scrutiny by management 100% of the time.

It's very common for chinese manufacturing plants to have 80+% of their workers stay in an on-site dormitory. Mainly because the workers may come from out of town (salary gap reasons) and for other 'efficiency' related reasons.

ps: I also think Foxconn has a bloody hand in (at least some of) these suicides.

No. I'd quit.

Has it not always been like that, some have to live miserably or die prematurely so that others can enjoy life...

Perhaps China should not have been financing US debt but instead raising the living standard of Chinese people...