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The stand of Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn at the CeBIT technology fair on March 4, 2008 in Hanover, Germany (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Foxconn, an Apple device manufacturer in Shenzhen, a special economic zone just north of Hong Kong, reported an employee suicide on May 14, bringing the number of deaths this year to seven out of nine attempted suicides.
The victim is alleged to have jumped off a building after stabbing himself four times in the chest. Two of the recent deaths took place within a span of three days. These workers were young people who came from the countryside with ages ranging mostly from 17 to 22; one was 27 years old.
According to company spokesperson Liu Shen, the time of employment ranged from 20 days to 18 months, none had an extensive record of overtime, and there is no direct link between work pressure and the suicides.
An employee from the company’s factory in Hongguan Industrial Park spoke over the phone with this reporter. He said every factory employs tens of thousands of workers, so that there could be hundreds or even thousands of workers starting or quitting their jobs everyday.
He said the victims were all the lowest ranking workers who were probably experiencing a great amount of work pressure. “Their jobs were very simple, repetitive, and extremely boring—the kind of work that can numb one’s mind and kill one’s dreams.” These kids do not know how to balance their lives after a long day of repetitive labor, he said, and might have suffered from mental imbalances.
Guangzhou Daily reported a statement from another Foxconn employee: “We work more than 10 hours a day and are not allowed to talk to each other on the factory floor. Otherwise we might be scolded or even disciplined by our supervisors. If we have problems, we will not go to our supervisors, nor do we have time to communicate with our peers.”
Meng Jingdi, a 23-year-old from Guizhou Province, said he roomed with one of the victims, 19-year-old Ma Xiangquian. “Ten people from 10 different departments lived in the same dormitory. We were like total strangers, having no contact with each other. Although I’ve lived there for seven months, I do not know the other people’s names.”
Reports of Abusive Staff
Ma’s sister, Ma Liqun, told Guangzhou Daily that her brother had stayed in bed for three days before his death in the early morning of Jan. 23 at the Guanlan plant. Since Ma’s body was covered with wounds, the family suspected he was beaten to death. However, the police refused to investigate further. Meng also mentioned there have been accounts of security guards beating employees.
A Sound Of Hope reporter was told by another employee that some of the security guards are not very friendly and often curse at workers while on the job. “I’ve heard the guards would beat people intentionally, claiming it was part of their job,” he said.
This year, five alleged suicides have occurred in Foxconn’s Longhua factory site alone. Mr. Wu, a worker there said, “The working conditions at Longhua are not ideal, and retention rates are very high.” Another employee, Mr. Liu from the Guanlan Industrial Park, expressed similar dissatisfaction with the repetitive labor and uncivilized management style.
Mr. Wu said some supervisors exhibit thuggish behavior and verbally taunt the employees. These factors are believed to have led to a previous tragedy, the Nov. 4, 2009 suicide death of 23-year-old Tan Guoxi.
The Foxconn Technology Group is a unit of Taiwan electronics giant Hon Hai. It is the foremost provider of joint-design, joint-development, manufacturing, assembly, and after-sales services to global computer, communications, and consumer electronics companies. In its several factory sites in Shenzhen city, Foxconn employs more than 400,000 workers.
According to a Nanfang Daily report, Foxconn Group President Terry Guo invited Buddhist monks from Mount Wutai in Shanxi Province to Shenzhen to perform rituals in order to calm the employees down.
After this latest suicide death, one participant in an online chat group who said he was a Foxconn employee, called for the Foxconn insiders to come out and reveal the dark side of the operations.
The Foxconn Technology Group was founded in Taiwan in 1974 by Terry Gou, according to its website. Terry Guo is well known for his tough management approach. He has openly said that if one wants to be part of Foxconn, one must be able to withstand his iron-fist.
Since 2001, Foxconn has been one of the largest exporters in China.
