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.
PHOTO: AFP
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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