Report: Latest Foxconn Death Makes 10

Ed Sutherland ()

Report: Latest Foxconn Death Makes 10

Another worker at China’s Foxconn Technology Group has died. While few details were released by the state-run Xinhua News Agency, the incident is the 10th death in the past year at the electronics maker. Ironically, the death followed an announcement Monday by Foxconn disputing reports of a sweatshop atmosphere.

“We are certainly not running a sweatshop. We are confident we’ll be able to stabilize the situation soon,” the AP quotes Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou.

Last week, a 21-year-old man jumped from a four-story building Friday night after ending his shift at Foxconn. Earlier this month, another worker committed suicide.

Last July, a Foxconn worker committed suicide after being interrogated about a missing iPhone prototype.

Apple cleared Foxconn in 2006, in a report that mentioned lack of overtime as the most serious worker concern.

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[via PCWorld]

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About the author

Ed Sutherland

Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

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  • Barry Wood

    This is really non-news. If you look at Chinese suicide rates you’ll find that the rate amongst Foxconn employees is lower than the national average. I’m not trying to dismiss the seriousness of suicides, it’s just lame journalism to try to pedal this is news. I’m an avid follower of CoM but “stories” like this, and all the jailbreak articles get tiresome.

  • Mezzrow

    Agree with Barry Wood–this is a non-issue in which Apple is being blamed. There are multiple sources for the data on Chinese suicide rates, which are indeed higher than Foxconn’s. And Apple is by no means the only company using Foxconn as a supplier, but you never hear about the others. Please don’t run these stories without due diligence giving the whole story.

  • JamesR

    Foxconn manufactures for SEVERAL American companies, including Dell and (now-defunct) Palm. Apple hardware is not the only product Foxconn works on.

    Clearly the stupid-heads are equating all Foxconn tragedies with Apple…. probably because Apple is the only successful company that grabs attention?

  • Not as Brainwashed

    Wait a minute guys. There have been TEN suicides in the last year at this company. I don’t hear you giving exact statistics about how common suicide is in China; it’s just something you’ve heard and are repeating. In fact, its lower than the United States (16.7 males per 100,000 compared to 17.6 in the US (Source: World Health Organization)).

    Now, don’t you think that 10 people killing themselves at one company is a little out of the ordinary? Well, I’ll tell you, it is. At least one of these deaths was on the company campus. That’s a sign.

    Why would you just blindly defend Apple (and the other companies who use Foxxconn)? Aren’t you even a little bit curious if perhaps the management puts extreme pressure on the employees? Don’t you wonder what they get paid? Guess it might be close to peanuts?

    I’m guessing you staunch defenders have Apple stock. Just remember that you can’t take it with you when you go and if you are leaving misery behind, that’s not a great legacy as a human on this planet.