The People Bulletin

Foxconn, the world’s largest contract maker of IT goods including iPhones , the new iPad and and Motorola displays, has pledged to raise wages by 20% and offer counseling to its 420,000 workers at its south China industrial plant.

Why? Because ten workers have killed themselves and three have attempted suicide this year. Another worker in northern China has also committed suicide. The basic salary at the plant is about 900 yuan a month (around £90).

The company has started to put up anti-suicide nets to prevent workers from throwing themselves out of windows. The deaths were partly linked to difficulties of migrant workers adjusting to a new city, a new job and long hours (one worker earned £200 a month polishing the cases of Apple computers 10 hours a day, six days a week), also pointed to a more sinister reason, according a recent report in the Guardian.[1]

”Many people believe they did it for the money”, said Li, a doctor at the clinic outside the factory gates.  "The families of the victims have been promised more than 400,000 yuan.  That’s more than the workers could expect to earn over their entire lives so they might have thought by jumping, they could solve all of their family’s financial problems”’

This latest bout of suicides is a worrying reminder that the woes of France Telecom were not an isolated incident.[2]  The adverse economic conditions have made it harder for workers to move jobs if working conditions become intolerable – and the consequences can be devastating.

Nick Cohen’s remarks in the Observer about the human cost of the latest gadgets suggest western consumers could take more of a responsible attitude to the provenance of some of the goods they acquire: ‘Like good consumers, we obey too. Not that we should. It would be heartening if people could shake themselves and say that the iPad is just another computer, which we do not need and will not buy unless Apple persuades its suppliers to improve workers' conditions. Until we do, the hypocrisy of the Chinese communists is our hypocrisy as well.’[3]

Back in the UK workplace stress accounts for around £4bn in lost income with 13.5m days lost to stress in 2007/08.  And no employer would get away with anything like the draconian conditions Foxcann workers have to put up with. Guidance for employers on how to tackle workplace stress is available from the Health and Safety Executive who have published a helpful leaflet in PDF form: ‘ How to tackle workplace stress.’[4]

[1] www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/27/foxconn-suicide-tenth-iphone-china 

[2] www.apbusinesscontacts.com/hr-pb_5/news-suicide.aspx

[3] www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/30/nick-cohen-apple-factory-china

[4] http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg430.pdf