It’s not looking too great for Foxconn, Apple’s Chinese supplier who once again is having to explain and help uncover why yet another member of the Foxconn team committed suicide yesterday.
The woman, said to be 24, is now the sixth Foxconn employee to have ended their lives this year. Originally from Henan Province the young woman, who joined Foxcann last August killed herself by jumping from her apartment block.
So, is there something dark going down at Foxconn to make all these employees suddenly want an end to it all, or is it just coincidence?
For sure, Foxconn cannot boast a clean record. The first suicide of a young 25 year old, James Lee came after the young man had been interrogated and allegedly beaten after he was accused of stealing products. Not the best way to handle disloyal employees Foxconn!
After this came criticisms about the level of health and safety in the factories. Four employees are said to have died from Hexane poisoning, a chemical used to clean touch screens with causes the nervous system to break down.
On top of this, general grievances have been voiced by Foxconn’s employees such as lack of paid overtime, unfair pay in general and safety issues. So much so that at one of the industrial parks in Suzhou over 2,000 employees went on strike.
So, what does Foxconn have to say for itself. In an interview, Foxconn spokesman Liu Kan helplessly said:
“Do we really have preventions in place? Can we really touch 420,000 people’s heart? As a business, we are not capable of doing this. And I don’t know what reason will cause the eighth jump.”
Mmmm not very convincing Foxconn! There may be a lot of people working for your company but clearly your current laissez faire attitude is not panning out to well.
One female employee, Ma Liqun, told the reporter, “Our level employees work hard, everyday working like machines, you can say that we are trained to become machines. Another thing is the lower level leaders do not respect our self-esteem. Sometimes, they yell at us, being yelled at is normal.”
There you have it, clearly if Foxconn communicated and actually took the time to ask what was bothering it’s employees, simple yet effective changes could be made, which, we’re sure, would boost morale and provide a more efficient and comfortable working environment for all.
Read more about Foxconn here.
