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Chinese iPad Factory Staff Forced To Sign 'No Suicide' Pledge
An anonymous reader writes "Employees at Foxconn facilities in China, used to manufacture the iPhone and iPad, were forced to sign a pledge not to commit suicide after over a dozen staff killed themselves over the last 16 months. The revelation is the latest in a series of findings about the treatment of workers at Foxconn plants, where staff often work six 12-hour shifts a week, 98 hours of overtime in a month, and live in dormitories that look and feel like prison blocks."
FTFA: "And they were made to promise that if they did, their families would only seek the legal minimum in damages."
So, there is some form of enforcement after all. The legality of this, I couldn't say.
-mrxak
Onions Will Kill You
Why every time Foxconn is mentioned it is automatically associated with Apple. Foxconn manufacturers for large number of clients including Logitech and Dell. Maybe I'm just being new again?
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
We also use our huge prisoner population for all sorts of work. Telemarketing, small time manufacture, and now even some electronic components. All made by prisoners who were probably put in to jail thanks to our ridiculous "War on Drugs" and politicians who want to appear tough on crime.
You mean the Duke lacrosse team which was falsely accused and then hounded by a rogue prosecutor for political reasons, who was eventually disbarred for his misconduct?
As usual, especially for the Daily Hate Mail, the title is extremely misleading. It's been covered on slashdot before, but describing Foxconn as an iPad factory, or even an Apple factory is like calling Amazon a "Stephen King bookstore".
The article strongly infers that the plant *only* makes Apple stuff.
I also see no mention in the article about Apple's responses to this, with higher wages paid per employee (compared to the same employees in the same factory making Xboxes, PS3s, Nintendo Wiis, Android handsets, televisions, microwaves, etc etc), although they did talk about how little they were earning, and inspections and rules set out in a code of conduct (although, enforcing this is clearly difficult).
So, nothing really to see here - typical of Daily Mail reporting. I'm just amazed they didn't try to work in a "gay, single-parent-mother asylum seeker claiming benefits and lottery money, causing cancer" angle somehow.
Remember, this is China. The deck is stacked against the common man. The courts probably would enforce a contract that would be unenforceable in Western countries.
Many countries have higher rates of suicide among the general population.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate
The Wired article a published a month or two ago claims that the suicide rate at American colleges is higher than at Foxconn. According to Wikipedia, the suicide rate per 100,000 persons in the US is 11.1, and according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, there are between 8 and 25 suicide attempts for every reported suicide death. That gives us an attempted suicide rate of around 88 or 89 per 100,000 people.
Looking at the information on Foxconn in the linked article, it would appear that the attempted suicide rate is somewhere around 12 per 100,000 for the first part of 2010. That would come out to maybe 36 per 100,000 for the whole year?
Maybe the headline should be: Making iPads in a Chinese Factory Is Truly Awful, But You're Much More Likely to Kill Yourself if You go to College in the US.
Unless I'm missing something here. Also, the article appears to be pretty old.
Dear misinformed:
The Duke lacrosse team did not rape anybody. It was a false accusation and a prime example of how "presume guilt and punish immediately" is a bad idea. The falsely-accused students are now filing lawsuits for damages (like not being able to compete and reach professional level status). Plus a general level of HATE directed by professors to the students. (I always thought profs were secretly bastards at heart.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responses_to_the_2006_Duke_University_lacrosse_case#Duke_faculty_groups
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
they didn't "have" to sign it.... just like you don't "have" to have a job that decides they don't want you to smoke ... at all. They're more than free to get another job. There's only 1.3 BILLION other people competing! In many ways the US labor rules are at the far end of the "civilized" countries when it comes to what we allow "by the books".
I don't see what's wrong with the 12 hours, 6 days. During peak auto season most UAW workers work those kind of hours... sometimes even 7 days. I work at a steel company and guys in the mills do that all the time. Many, many jobs in the USA work those kind of hours... in fact it's the norm... nursing, steel mills, auto makers, cops. That's in the USA with Union jobs, what's the big deal. The only real difference in the USA that these people have nice houses with big mortgages and drive 45 minutes each way to work. Oh, and after working all those hours your cut-rate health insurance blames "your lifestyle" on all the health problems you have, not to mention the huge divorce rate in those jobs.
Realize when you hear nurses or steel workers get those big paychecks they really are SAVING their companies tons of money. Companies in the US should be hiring 1/3 more workers in a lot of cases.. but having existing workers work 1/2 more comes out cheaper because "fixed costs" per employee (Health, workman's comp, vacation, etc) all are based on a 40 hour week. Sure they get time and a half, or even double time... and how much is just health insurance rising? weigh that against consistently working massive overtime and even the spikes in insurance costs are trivial to what the company is making per employee. Don't believe a word of the "US Unions are ruining things".... remember non-union tech employees got "reclassified" so WE can work those kinds of hours for "salary"...
Don't see what all the outrage is because it happens in China... the only reason so much work goes there is that their hourly wage is less... and their countries have national health insurance so the companies don't have to pay it. By the time they get employees that can work like Americans though, they are getting close to paying the same kind of money once language and shipping come into account.
I'm not sure if it's effective to "force" them to sign the document but this is a common way to deal with suicidal individuals from a mental health perspective. You get people to sign a form, even just one you scribbled out right there, or give a verbal commitment to not kill themselves until the next time you see them, when you get the commitment again. It works for most people. Most people really don't want to kill themselves, they want to end pain or maybe even cause pain but few people who attempt suicide want to do it. They consider it because they believe it's their only realistic option for dealing with their problems. This is generally true in America, I don't know if it's the case in other parts of the world.
Many things are made by Foxconn. Also from what I've read, their suicide rate is quite a bit lower than the average suicide rates in Chinese/Taiwanese manufacturing plants. We only hear/care about this one because they make i-devices. I mean come on, the very title of this summary should be a glaring indicator why anyone cares. Foxconn is not a "chinese iPad factory," its a massive global technology company manufacturing pipeline.