Wednesday 19 January 2011

First Foxconn suicide of 2011

I checked on a whim and, sadly, it seems the 'rightswash' carried out by Foxconn last year, following a spate of suicides, was just that - a phony exercise to quieten down media interest, so business as usual could carry on.

Certainly, it doesn't seem to have stopped workers killing themselves through desperation:
The unnamed employee, who had worked for Foxconn since 2005, had "been on sick leave" at the time of her death after factory officials rebuked her for an unknown reason and told her she would lose her job. Taiwan media further reported that the worker was mentally troubled. (1)
Of course, it's in all our interests, as Westerners, that business as usual carries on. Imagine having to pay a fair price for an Ipad?
1 - "New Foxconn employee commits suicide in Shenzhen," unattributed article. Published in The Global Times, 15th of January, 2011. (http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2011-01/612970.html)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This same type of conduct goes on at many top corporations, overseas and here in the Continental US. United Parcel Service (UPS) conducts their business here in this very country like a plantation/sweatshop. Workers have to run for bathroom breaks, work long hours with little pay and are not afforded rest/work periods that a normal employee would expect. The workers are worked from the time they arrive till they leave with no breaks. Work is constantly flowing. Management micromanages and perpetuates the situation. UPS prides itself on getting packages all over the world faster than other shippers, partially do to abusive labor practices. When we constantly demand faster and faster, and cheaper and cheaper, we fail to realize that some worker is going to have to work like a machine to make it happen, usually for very little pay.

Unsurprising

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