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Ninth Suicide At iPhone Factory

Posted by Soulskill on from the need-a-union-app dept.

shar303 writes "A ninth employee has jumped to his death at Taiwanese iPhone and iPad manufacturer Foxconn, China's state media reports. The 21-year-old worker was the eighth fatality this year. This raises questions as to whether the shiny finish of the latest gadgets available from mega corporations are tarnished by such information, and whether the mistreatment of workers deserves to be highlighted when considering such firms."

6 of 539 comments (clear)

  1. Another victim of the iSuck symdrome by JaCKeL+1.0 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Another victim of the iSuck symdrome...

  2. Is this really out of the ordinary for China? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    People like to blame Apple, Dell, or any other company that manufacturers gadgets in China (who doesn't nowadays?), but is this really their fault?

    According to this URL:
    http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suiciderates/en/

    China and area have almost 55 suicides for every 100,000 people. Among the highest in the world.

    Foxconn employs over 300,000 people according to:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn

    And has had 9 suicides so far this year, so lets extrapolate that out to 20 in a year.

    Suicide rate for China in general.......: 0.00055%
    Suicide rate for Foxconn employees: 0.00006%

    While this is still too high, I think we should be asking what Foxxconn is doing that results in such an *improvement* over the rest of China.

    The media is getting all in a panic over 9 people committing suicide yet ignoring the big picture, which is the thousands of people committing suicide in China just in general.

    1. Re:Is this really out of the ordinary for China? by Billy+the+Mountain · · Score: 0, Troll

      Yep, I came to the exact same conclusion (although different numbers). In 1999 the suicide rate per 100,000 was 13.9 and a web search found 800,000 employees for Foxconn, so 9 / 800,000 * 100,000 = 1.1. So if you are living in China and not employed by Foxconn then you are about 13 times more likely to commit suicide.

      --
      That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
  3. Re:Apple. by commodore64_love · · Score: 0, Troll

    Social Democracy eh?

    - You work your ass off trying to earn money.
    - I sit and watch TV or internet all day, and then I suck the cash out of your wallet to pay my bills (food stamps, housing, doctors' bills, welfare, other free handouts, .....)

    You call that acceptable??? I call that legalized theft. Thank you very much (pockets YOUR money in my bank).

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
  4. Re:Apple. by commodore64_love · · Score: 0, Troll

    Maybe he should have subcontracted with Commodore to make Amiga 500s (and later 1200s) instead. They sold about a million a year while his NeXT sold little.

    Of course a lot of the Amigas were hand-assembled in Pennsylvania. Maybe that's why they only cost ~$500 while the next cost ~$5000. Labor's cheaper than automation?

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
  5. Reminds me of Mark by hallux.sinister · · Score: 0, Troll

    A guy I knew named Mark used to go on and on about how environmentally friendly Apple is, and how wonderful Apple is in every possible way. I guess maybe not so wonderful if you're one of the slaves who has to build their toys.