1 June, 2010Work pressures at Foxconn, the world's biggest manufacturer of electronics components and the main supplier to Apple, have driven workers to commit suicide. The company, instead of improving working conditions, forces workers to give promises not to harm themselves.
CHINA: Desperate working conditions, excessive working hours and low pay have pushed twelve workers at a Foxconn factors in Shenzhen, China to attempt suicide, ten of whom have died. . Taiwan-owned Foxconn is a massive electronics producer and a major supplier of Apple, producing iPhones and iPads. Foxconn employs around 800,000 workers at its 20 factories in China. The company also supplies Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Nokia, among others.
Confronted with the desperate acts of its workers, rather than taking immediate steps to improve working conditions, Foxconn instead treated the workers as the problem. It installed nets around the factory buildings and obliged the workers to sign contracts not to commit suicide. One Foxconn manager even suggested that workers were committing suicide in order to access compensation provided by company to victims' families. Once reports of the suicides became news around the world, the company promised an average 20 per cent wage increase, but has yet to deliver. Foxconn pays its workers the minimum legal monthly wages of approximately US$140 with workers obliged to perform many extra hours of overtime to increase their wages.
The suicides at Foxconn highlight the massive pressures that are put on workers in electronics supply chains where long hours, high production volumes and low wages take their toll on worker health. Many of the pressures originate from the purchasing practices of the brand name buyers such as Nokia, Sony and Hewlett Packard that drive down prices and demand ever shorter delivery times.
"While it is good to see that companies such as Nokia are starting to express public concern about the suicides at Foxconn, they must take concrete steps to change the conditions of electronics supply chain production to protect workers," said Jyrki Raina, IMF General Secretary. "IMF will continue to pursue dialogue with the major electronics companies on how they can improve conditions for workers."
IMF is working with other trade unions and NGOs through the GoodElectronics network (http://www.goodelectronics.org/) to demand recognition of human rights and sustainable production throughout electronics supply chains. IMF supports the statement issued by GoodElectronics which calls on Foxconn and its customers to investigate the suicide cluster and to address the root causes. Full text of the statement is available here.
LabourStart, an online news service serving the international trade union movement by collecting and disseminating information, organized a campaign in support of Foxconn workers. To send your protest to the company visit the LabourStart page.