Foxconn Suicides Continue: PHOTOS Inside The iPhone Factory Plagued By Deaths

The Foxconn Technology Group's factory in southern China has been plagued by suicides in recent months. A young man who jumped to his death late Wednesday became the 10th person at the Shenzhen factory--and the 11th Foxconn worker--to commit suicide this year. His death came just after Foxconn's chairman led a media tour of the factory.

The Chinese factory is one of Apple's "main manufacturer contractors," and in addition to churning out iPods, iPhones, and iPads, the factory also supplies Intel, Dell, Sony, Nokia, and HP, among other firms.

The Associated Press writes of Foxconn's labor practices: "Labor activists have long said that Foxconn's problem was a rigid management style on factory floors, where the assembly line moved too fast and workers were forced to log too much overtime. Foxconn has repeatedly denied the allegations."

The company plans to institute new measures it hopes will prevent additional employee deaths. In addition to installing safety nets on Foxconn buildings, Foxconn chairman Terry Gou said more counselors would be hired, and explained that "employees were being divided up into 50-member groups, whose members would watch for signs of emotional trouble within their group." The Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday that the factory had also asked their employees to sign a "no suicide" pledge."

See pictures of the Foxconn factory in the slideshow below. Read more about the most recent tragic death here.

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Company staff members stand at the balconies of residential house at the Foxconn complex in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, Southern city in China, Wednesday, May 26, 2010.(AP Caption)

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Company staff members stand at the balconies of residential house at the Foxconn complex in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, Southern city in China, Wednesday, May 26, 2010.(AP Caption)

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helenwheels said on 27 Thursday 2010 am31 11:50 am: Me, too. The problem is you (like me) come from a generation that didn't live under corporate rule to the extent folks do today. The younger kids grew up with it. I find it really sad.

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[Richard Platt]

08:54 AM on 06/30/2010

Actions speak, Talk is cheap, and is exactly why Americans are responsible for the demise of the US economy, since it is Americans themselves that are subsidizing these companies and their choice to build at Foxconn.

Why? Well because when people buy Apple, HP and Microsoft, it is the demand for these products that causes these companies, as typical profit maximizers do, to use the lowest cost supplier, regardless of the cost impact in human life.

The US economy is being tanked by the outsourcing of these products being built in China instead of here at home in the US, where they can be built competitively, just not at slave labor prices.

When is the Federal government doing their part to stop this unfair business practice? As much as it pains me to say it, where are the electronics industry lobbyists beating down the doors of congressman and the White House to sort this issue out?

Steve Jobs attempt to shove it under the carpet by saying that the suicide rate is lower at Foxconn than in China as a whole is a PR whitewash to justify more profits instead of being a compassionate human being. I would've hoped that since his bout with cancer would have made him more of one, apparently not.

So much for the corporate sustainability of Apple, HP, Microsoft, et al who build at Foxconn, what a sham? Shame on all of them for not doing something more about this.

[t-boy42]

11:58 AM on 06/12/2010

suicide nets? They fail

[Clayton Jones]

02:51 AM on 06/03/2010

All Is Quiet on the Western Front

“This story is neither an accusation or confession, and at least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it.” –Erich Maria Remarque

The ’85 Super Bowl, Marino and Montana
head to head; half-time, the Apple commercial with office workers jumping
off the cliff like lemmings. In the end, Montana’s West
dominated Marino’s East: the iPhone factory in China
where text messages are born! the factory workers jumping
from the building in droves! the bosses putting up nets like cobwebs!
to save them from a walking out
on the world wide wire?
J. Clayton L. Jones

[grammernazinobody]

01:04 PM on 06/01/2010

"A young man who jumped to his death late Wednesday became the 10th person at the Shenzhen factor--and the 11th Foxconn worker--to commit suicide this year."

"Shenzhen factor" should be "Shenzhen factory".

[alilje]

03:07 PM on 05/31/2010

How about fewer nets and more humane working conditions. All the companies using this factory should pull their orders. Would the CEO's want these type of working conditions for themselves?

[Talamasca]

11:48 AM on 05/31/2010

And all this so Westerners can buy themselves some ‘cool’.

[Havana Thinks]

12:38 AM on 05/30/2010

Do we see the workers don't have protection-----no nose and mouth protection, no eye protection. Some wear one glove; others have finger condoms; this is a closed factory. When I open a box from electronics store, I have 2 take a deep breath and make certain the windows R open due to the toxic smell coming from the container. These workers assemble and therefor, breathe in unknown amounts of toxic chemicals. 4get about Y they commit suicide and understand: inhaling toxic chemicals for 9-12 hours a day is bound 2 take it's toll on yr ability 2 think rationally. INVESTIGATORS: Take blood samples.....Families of the deceased get lawyers 2 enforce blood samples of all workers. That is yr smoking gun, folks.....just sayin......

[mike72]

03:53 AM on 05/30/2010

The real raw capitalism is running wild and alive in China, which CLAIMS to be a Communist country that having the working people as the ruling class.

There are workers' unions in those factories but they do not function. There are Communist party units in those factories but they do not function. Workers advocates are jailed and workers who dare to complaint to the government are systematically harrassed.

How ironic.

[mike72]

03:58 AM on 05/30/2010

Did you see the tired eyes of those workers? Do you know why they look so tired? Because they have to work 12 hours each day in order to make 2000 yuan, which is about $300 each month.

And worst yet, they must work 12 hours on day time for 6 months and then rotate to 12 hours on night time for 6 months. Do you know what kind of psychological impact on ANYBODY enduring that kind of NON-ENDING torture?

The reason for the su**ides are quite obvious. But Foxconn and the Chinese government just refuse to face it. The profit margin and bottom lines DEPEND ripping the profits from the blood of sweat of those young workers.

[mike72]

06:25 AM on 05/29/2010

Why do people commit s***ide? Because they lost all FUTURE hopes.

In China, with their meager incomes working as migrant workers in big cities, these young workers from villages ended up

1) can not afford to buy the lowest price housing in the city
2) can not go back to the village as the land has laid wasted after so many decades of neglect.
3) working over 12 or 14 hours in total silence per day without breaks other than lunch time and bathroom time

Hope is the reason that we live for. Take away hope, what do we have?

[mike72]

06:19 AM on 05/29/2010

Here are some numbers for consideration:

The cost of iPhone is $499. The material cost is $217.00, The assembly fee paid to Foxconn in China is $11.

Apple's profit margin is over 50%, not even counting the profits from the carrier contracts.

In 2009, Apple market value is $220B. The revenue in second quarter this year is over $3B. It employes about 10,800 people. In contrast, Foxconn China's total profit last year is only $30 million dollars, employing over 470,000 workers.

The basic pay to a Chinese worker in Foxconn is 900 yuan, about $134 dollars. If they work over 12 or 14 hours per day, their over time pay jumps to over 2000 yuan, about $300

China Economic Miracle? Sounds more like slavery to me.

[Havana Thinks]

10:37 PM on 05/29/2010

Ok, dude why don't U plainly say how much a normal worker gets paid per day in Dollars because yr post implies that $134.00 per day for a normal worker is slavery which is way more than most American employees make per day. Please explain clearly how much a worker makes per day or U have only caused more confusion...just sayin....

[mike72]

08:58 AM on 05/30/2010

It is monthly.

[digitaljedi]

01:37 AM on 05/29/2010

What kind of name is FOXCONN anyway it sounds like a mega corporation from a dystopian future earth.

[Havana Thinks]

10:39 PM on 05/29/2010

Sounds pretty plain 2 me: They R Foxes who Conn the workers. Not only do they con but they double-N.....conn.

[mike72]

10:02 PM on 05/28/2010

Achieving economic miracles in China at the expense of the environment and workers' rights need to be ENDED in China.

Can't wait to see yet another revolution out of China. The Communist regime is oppressive and too capitalistic.

[ebroadcast]

02:46 PM on 05/28/2010

Installing safety nets on Foxconn buildings?? Seriously? To catch (literally) their workers when jumping off the building?

[mike72]

10:04 PM on 05/28/2010

If they comm**it s(uide in their dorms, in the hallways, in the factory floors, or better yet, outside of the campus, then WHO CARE! They are expendable because the Communist Party gurantees that they have zero rights.

[who38]

10:22 PM on 05/29/2010

The non-suicide pledge is equally absurd. What will be the punishment if the person commits suicide after signing the pledge?

[Larry Kurnarsky]

02:22 PM on 05/28/2010

Foxcomm will NOT make substantive reforms to improve the lives of workers. Putting up safety nets is absurd; as if jumping off a balcony is the only way to kill yourself. Even in the United States of Denial, it's now obvious that capitalism is incapable of creating profits without the super-explotation of workers- as the EEC is discovering. This is the only reason why jobs in advanced economies are outsourced to places like China.

Raising the cost of an iPhone is not an option Steve Jobs gives Foxcomm. Apple will simply migrate to where factory management is willing to do what is necessary.

Yet the problem isn't Steve Jobs. The problem IS capitalism. Its internal contradictions guarantee that, over time, making a buck from producing a widget becomes ever more difficult. Over time, profitability declines as efficiency rises since the more efficient a business, the less labor is needed to turnout widgets. In other words, the fat cow years of job and wage gains were doomed from the start. We are now in the thin cow years. Fewer people making enough wages to afford widgets means having to reduce the price of widgets AND labor costs. But you don't need to be an economist to know that the 'declining rate of profit' is reality. Almost anyone who owns a shop or restaurant in the Western world can tell you that you need to run faster and faster to stay in the same place, to quote the Red Queen.

[mike72]

09:52 PM on 05/28/2010

That is because k*illing oneself with other means won't get media attention and so that doesn't "count"

Inhumane capitalism.

[Adam Purnell]

01:48 PM on 05/28/2010

iPhone Factory Suicides.... "There's An App For That"

[mike72]

09:53 PM on 05/28/2010

One thing you can do is to force Apple paying more money to their OBE. With a slightly higher margin of profit, maybe, MAYBE, foxconn will pay their workers a little bit better.

Underneath your cool iPhone are blood and sweat of the young Chinese workers.

[TOOO]

01:32 PM on 05/28/2010

I would BUY American-made electronics if I could FIND American-made electronics.

That said, with these kinds of working conditions, I wonder how long before there's a workers' revolt (which is ironic, considering that it was a workers' revolt that created Communism in the first place)?

[traylortrash]

05:26 PM on 05/28/2010

Here, here!!! I have an idea! Why don't we take back all our jobs from foreign factories! After all, we are all down to the overseas wage now, so all these Corporate fat cats can pay the same wage as overseas and put Americans back to work...I keep wondering how long until we have a revolution here as well.

[mike72]

09:53 PM on 05/28/2010

I agree ... if America still produce anything.