Dying Young: Suicide & China’s Booming Economy
A newly-installed safety net
between dormitory buildings
to prevent employees
from attempting suicide
by jumping off the rooftop—
can it really help save lives?
(photo by SACOM)
Since the beginning of 2010, a startling ten Foxconn employees in Shenzhen tried to end their lives. Eight died, while two survived their injuries. All were between 18 and 25 years old—in the prime of their youth—and their loss should awaken wider society to reflect upon the costs of a development model that sacrifices dignity for economic growth.
On 18 May 2010, nine mainland Chinese and Hong Kong academics1 issued an open statement calling on Foxconn and the government to do justice for the younger generation of migrant workers. The statement painfully reads:
From the moment they [the new generation of migrant workers] step beyond the doors of their houses, they never think of going back to farming like their parents. In this sense, they see no other options when they enter the city to work. The moment they see there is little possibility of building a home in the city through hard work, the very meaning of their work collapses. The path ahead is blocked, and the road to retreat is closed. Trapped in this situation, the new generation of migrant workers faces serious identity crisis and, in effect, this magnifies psychological and emotional problems. Digging into this deeper level of our societal and structural conditions, we come closer to understanding the ‘no way back’ mentality of these Foxconn employees
China’s development strategy throughout these 30 years not only accomplished an economic miracle. It deepened regional inequalities, prolonged stagnation of wages, and deprived migrant workers’ citizenship and human rights. In the following, we first outline the pattern of internal labor migration under the widening gaps between rural and urban economies. Second, we review the recent cases of Foxconn suicides to probe into the working lives of those who struggle to live on. Finally, we appeal to the concerned public to nurture a sustainable community that respects workers’ rights.
Chinese migrants as low-paid workers and secondary citizens
More than 10 percent of the 1.4 billion people in China, that is, hundreds of millions of “peasants” from the countryside, are on the move. These internal migrants are hailed as China’s new working class. They are preferred as a low cost source of labor and considered better fit for training and adaption to the competitive pressures of the market. In contrast to older state-owned-enterprise workers who seem hopelessly stuck in their socialist mentality and welfare dependency, new generations of peasants-turned-workers are said to be building China’s modernization.
In comparison with global-oriented export processing zones, the vast Chinese countryside is viewed as a wasteland of backwardness. The decollectivization of agricultural production differentiated the rural economy and spurred rising income differences between households. Young people long for a life attuned to the times, and the city is where everything happens. Aspirations for a better future have motivated many from the countryside to seek new opportunities in the cities. The resulting rural-to-urban migration left villages associated with stagnation.
Under the direction of the Chinese authoritarian state, China’s export-oriented economic model proved it could deliver economic growth. Asian-invested enterprises and domestic manufacturers on mainland China have risen quickly to become contractors and sub-contractors to Western multinationals, depending on the advantage of low-paid migrant workers.
The rural experience of these new workers is oftentimes irrelevant or even considered a detriment to the manufacturing process. Migrants must liquidate their past and become a blank slate receptive to training. To quicken the transformation, employers draw attention to migrants’ deficiencies and missing skills. Furthermore, with hundreds of millions competing for jobs, migrants feel a perpetual sense of anxiety, continuously reminded of their replacability.
Workers-of-rural-origins are discriminated culturally and materially. Their younger cohorts in particular find themselves insecure, neither belonging to the city nor feeling able to return to a livelihood in the countryside. Some have their employment histories brought to an end from work injuries. Still some others, under desperate conditions, have taken their own lives. The priority given to economic development in China has reached a critical point where we must reflect on the deeper costs of a growth-above-all-else industrial policy.
Riding Foxconn’s “suicide express”?
Amid media reports of suicides of young Chinese workers, public discussions about corporate management, workers’ socio-psychological well-being, and international supply chain labor responsibility have been getting intense.
An online Chinese news database newly created in January 2010 raised a question, “Foxconn employees—why haven’t they held back from killing themselves (Ppsj.com)?” Another report dated 9 April 2010 asked somewhat more urgent, “Who can bring the Foxconn ‘suicide express’ to a halt (News.163.com)?”
Foxconn Technology Group, a Fortune 500 company, is the largest final assembling-supplier in the global electronics industry. The Taiwanese company announced consolidated net profits of NT$18 billion (US$568.73 million) for the first quarter of 2010, increased 34.8 percent on year. The company employs over 800,000 staff worldwide, mostly in China. In Shenzhen City, Foxconn’s Longhua Science and Technology Park houses some 300,000 workers in one single campus. Most of the Foxconn employees are young migrants from within Guangdong and other interior provinces. These workers assemble iPhones and iPads efficiently. A tagline of Foxconn’s worldwide recruitment advertisement reads, “The Foxconn brand is the talent of its workforce” (in original Chinese, rencai shi Hon Hai de pinpai). The evidence suggests, unfortunately, the company is losing its talent. Given recent events, the term used to refer to employees, “the people of Foxconn” or fu kang ren, rings with dark irony as the Chinese, literally translated, means “wealthy” and “healthy” people.
A snapshot of Foxconn’s death toll:
18 June 2007
Hanging in her dormitory toilet?
Hou, a 19-year-old Hunan worker, was found hung to her death in the toilet of her dormitory room. She entered Foxconn in the summer of 2005 after leaving middle school in Huihua City.
Hou’s parents were shocked upon hearing the tragic news. Two weeks before Hou’s death, she had phoned them to share her plan to quit soon after receiving her wages (New China Net, 27 June 2007).
1 September 2007
Dying from overwork?
Liu Bing, 21-year-old, died two hours after resigning from Foxconn. He left because the work was “too noisy and unbearably exhaustive.” His job responsibility was loading and unloading heavy goods. Overwork is the suspected cause of his death (Southern Metropolis Daily, 6 September 2007).
16 January 2009
Unbearable work pressure?
Feng, a 23-year-old university graduate, jumped from a 14th floor building to his death. The police found a suicide note in his dormitory, “Too much work pressure; unstable emotions.” Foxconn responded that Feng’s death might be related to a bonus reduction in connection with work productivity (Southern Metropolis Daily, 17 January 2009).
16 July 2009
Unmanageable consequence as a result of “Apple leak”?
Sun Danyong, a 25-year-old Yunnan graduate from the Harbin Institute of Technology, worked as an administrative staffer at Foxconn’s Shenzhen Longhua plant since 2008. On 16 July 2009, Sun, who was held responsible for losing one of 16 prototypes of Apple’s fourth-generation (4G) iPhone, jumped from the 12th floor of his apartment building to his death.
Foxconn issued a statement: “Regardless of the reason of Sun’s suicide, it is to some extent a reflection of Foxconn’s internal management deficiencies, especially in how to help young workers cope with the psychological pressures of working life at the company” (Li Jinming, Foxconn’s General Manager, quoted in Southern Metropolis Daily, 21 July 2009).
The “psychological pressures” referred to included being suspected of stealing, interrogation and solitary confinement by security officers, and having his home searched. He was allegedly beaten and humiliated. His final online chat with his friends revealed both his agony and relief, “Thinking that I won’t be bullied tomorrow, won’t have to be the scapegoat, I feel much better (Southern Metropolis Daily, 21 July 2009).”
Apple, one of the direct buyers of Foxconn products, released a press statement: “We are saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee, and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death. We require that our suppliers treat all workers with dignity and respect (quoted in CNET News, 21 July 2009).”
Commentators suggested that Apple’s secretive culture and business approach—creating and suspending great surprise in the market and thereby adding sale value to its products—have sent extreme pressure all the way down its Chinese suppliers.
23 January 2010
Fell to his death but why?
Ma Xiangqian, a 19-year-old Henan-native, entered Foxconn in November 2009, was found dead lying near the stairway of a factory dormitory on 23 January 2010. Despite management’s first conclusions otherwise, an autopsy confirmed the death was due to falling (People’s Daily, 13 February 2010).
Ma’s two sisters insisted that their brother was beaten to death at work because “there were scars on his dead body—he was black and blue in the chest area, had blood in his mouth and nose, and a big wound in his forehead” (Guangzhou Daily, 26 January 2010).
Foxconn refuted local media’s reports that Ma had been assigned to cleaning toilets after he damaged equipment (due to his inexperience).
11 March 2010
Financial stress?
Li, in his early 20s, jumped from a 5th floor dormitory after his Chinese New Year wages were stolen.
17 March 2010
Attempting suicide
Tian Yu was rescued after she jumped from her dormitory. Journalists have been trying to contact her but no further details were disclosed.
29 March 2010
Attempted suicide
Liu Zhijun, a 23-year-old Hunan graduate from Xiangtan University, jumped to his death from the 14th floor dormitory. He joined Foxconn in August 2009 (China Daily, 31 March 2010).
6 April 2010
“Too much work pressure,” testified a female worker survivor
Rao Leqin, an 18-year-old Jiangxi worker, jumped from her 7th floor dormitory but a tree broke her fall. She had worked in Foxconn for just a month.
Reports first alleged that Rao was troubled by a romantic relationship. When interviewed at the hospital, she clarified that she was “under work pressure.” She added that she did not have boyfriend.
Foxconn extended a typical work day to 12 hours. Rao said, “Morning assembly starts from 7:45 a.m. The working hours are very long. I get off at 6:50 p.m.…Recently I’ve been put on to the night-shift which I couldn’t quite get used to it.” Her job was to inspect parts and components under the microscope.
Rao believed that it was difficult for her to resign without losing her wages. “At that time [when she attempted suicide], I had only 15 yuan left. Earlier, I borrowed 50 yuan from my co-worker. I was running into deep [financial] problems,” she said (New China Net, 26 April 2010).
7 April 2010
Attempted suicide
Ning, an 18-year-old Yunnan worker, jumped to her death.
6 May 2010
Psychiatric breakdown?
Lu Xin, a 24-year-old Hunan graduate from Xiangtan University and an alumnus of Liu Zhijun (who killed himself on 29 March 2010; see above), jumped to his death from the 6th floor. He entered Foxconn in August 2009.
Lu allegedly suffered from a psychiatric disorder. According to his friends, Lu showed symptoms of delusions like “being followed and threatened [by someone who wants to kill him].” He was on the verge of personal breakdown around the May Day Holiday (on the 1st May International Labor Day, 2010).
Commentators suggested that Lu’s mental problems were triggered and related to work pressure (Southern Metropolis Daily, 7 May 2010).
Foxconn brought in monks in an attempt to release the souls of the deceased employees from suffering and to dispel misfortune (Southern Metropolis Daily, 12 May 2010). The conduction of the religious rite, however, could not stop Zhu Chenming (a 24-year-old Henan female worker) and Liang Chao (a 21-year-old Anhui male worker) from jumping off buildings on 11 May 2010 and 14 May 2010 respectively. Both of them were certified dead onsite. Local media reports state that Foxconn was willing to provide financial aid to the victims’ families on the condition that they signed “confidentiality agreements” with the company with regard to the deaths (China Economic Net, 20 May 2010).
Dying young: personal or workplace problems?
Foxconn spokesperson Edmund Ding, in response to the public outcry of “nine consecutive jumps” between January and mid-May 2010, told the media that some of the workers had had “personal problems” (BBC, 18 May 2010). Accordingly, the company established a management center and set up a 24-hour hotline service to help employees “maintain mental health” (China Daily, 13 May 2010). Senior management also invited a group of psychologists to its Shenzhen Longhua plant for consultation. Taking the experts’ advice, the workplace union would strive to cope with “the psychological and emotional needs” of its huge number of young employees (Southern Weekly, 12 May 2010)
We question Foxconn’s framing of the suicides as isolated, individual cases. The corporate prescriptions on comforting and caring the needy employees have left key workplace-based social problems unattended.
First, despite the high status as China’s biggest exporter, Foxconn pays its low-level workers in Shenzhen the legal minimum wage at 900 yuan/month.2 Ma Liquan, a former Foxconn worker and sister of Ma Xiangqian (who died in January 2010, see the previous section), informed China Central Television (CCTV, 11 May 2010): “After deducting mandatory social securities, we earn only some 800 yuan a month. No one seems to force us….and yet we’ve no choice but to do overtime work.” A work shift typically lasts from 10 to 12 hours. Workers must shoulder the burden of low pay and long working hours.
Second, the shop floor environment at Foxconn is tense and atomized. Each frontline production worker specializes in one specific task and performs monotonous, repetitive motions. The work is intense and work pace quick. Between April and early May 2010, a journalist conducted an undercover investigation by working in the Foxconn Longhua plant in Shenzhen for 28 days. He found: “Workers are feeling exhausted to the extent that they envy their injured co-workers. Why? They can take some rest from work as they are recovering (Southern Weekly, 12 May 2010).” Foxconn workers described themselves not as human beings but as a cog in a machine.
Third, migrant workers feel that they generally lack affective and social support. There is no exception at Foxconn. Senior management admits that the turnover of lower-level workers is fairly high (Global Times, 13 May 2010). While some workers get to know their dormitory roommates quite well, others find them complete strangers. A few choose to rent small apartments with friends and relatives outside the factory as far as they can afford them. In their everyday life, they encounter numerous difficulties to access to basic community services because they are not recognized as urban residents. Under the decades-old household registration system, migrants are classified as “floaters,” whose permanent residency is in the countryside. They are marginalized workers within and beyond the “Foxconn City.”3
Foxconn is one of the members of the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC)4 that pledges itself to uphold high labor and social standards in the global electronics supply chain. The company leaders need to work concretely with the local governments and the civil society organizations to implement both the labor law and the industry-level code of conduct.
At the time of writing—as of 21 May 2010—unfortunately, the 10th Foxconn employee jumped to his death just before 5:00 a.m. local time; he is only 21 years old (Reuters, 21 May 2010).
Corporations and governments must act responsibly now
Concerned labor group, China Labor Watch, called for an overhaul of conditions for Foxconn’s production line workers, after an investigation prompted by the suicide cluster (China Labor Watch, 18 May 2010).5 On 25 May 2010, Hong Kong-based Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) protested at Foxconn’s Hong Kong office to demand the company to safeguard workers’ rights and dignity.6
The Foxconn suicides have received much media attention and yet many other Chinese workers toil under terrible conditions. It is common knowledge that workplace accidents and even deaths are routinely covered up.7 Image-conscious global buyers and their suppliers sometimes show some concern for workers’ treatment. But often, this seems only business-as-usual done in the currency of the rhetoric of corporate social responsibility.
President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have emphasized social stability and harmony in addition to achieving national economic objectives. A more balanced urban-rural development and people-centered policy is indeed much needed.
We are concerned about the increasingly fragmented, precariously employed new working class. In the dominant discourse of development, human sacrifices have been considered inevitable if not outright necessary. Without stronger protections for Chinese migrant workers’ rights to unionize and strive for decent work, it seems almost certain we will witness a growing list of deaths.
Cited news sources on Foxconn suicides in chronological order:
New China Net (Xinhua Wang), 27 June 2007 [in Chinese]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/society/2007-06/27/content_6297739.htm
Southern Metropolis Daily (Nanfang Dushi Bao), 6 September 2007 [in Chinese]
http://news.sohu.com/20070906/n251989717.shtml
Southern Metropolis Daily (Nanfang Dushi Bao), 17 January 2009 [in Chinese]
http://epaper.nddaily.com/H/html/2009-01/17/content_688488.htm
Southern Metropolis Daily (Nanfang Dushi Bao), 21 July 2009 [in Chinese]
http://gcontent.nddaily.com/8/1d/81dc9bdb52d04dc2/Blog/7dc/a96b1d.html
CNET News, 21 July 2009
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10291701-37.html
Ppsj.com (Pinpai Shijia), January 2010 [an unofficial database on Foxconn in Chinese]
http://pp.ppsj.com.cn/Foxconn/ or http://info.ppsj.com.cn/fushikangyuang/
Guangzhou Daily (Guangzhou Ribao), 26 January 2010 [in Chinese]
http://msn.china.ynet.com/view.jsp?oid=62972169
China Central Television (CCTV), 11 May 2010 [in Chinese]
http://space.tv.cctv.com/video/VIDE1273587193496888
People’s Daily, 13 February 2010
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6894595.html
China Daily, 31 March 2010
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-03/31/content_9664926.htm
News.163.com (Wang Yi), 9 April 2010 [in Chinese]
http://news.163.com/10/0409/09/63QMQA4J000146BD.html
New China Net (Xinhua Wang), 26 April 2010 [in Chinese]
http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/internet/2010-04/26/content_13425057.htm
Southern Metropolis Daily (Nanfang Dushi Bao), 7 May 2010 [in Chinese]
Southern Metropolis Daily (Nanfang Dushi Bao), 12 May 2010 [in Chinese]
http://gcontent.nddaily.com/8/1d/81dc9bdb52d04dc2/Blog/e41/1004ba.html
Southern Weekly (Nanfang Zhoumo), 12 May 2010 [in Chinese]
(1) http://www.infzm.com/content/44883
(2) http://www.infzm.com/content/44881
China Daily, 13 May 2010
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-05/13/content_9842460.htm
Global Times, 18 May 2010
http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2010-05/531176.html
BBC, 18 May 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia_pacific/10122989.stm
China Economic Net (Zhongguo Jingji Wang), 20 May 2010 [in Chinese]
http://big5.ce.cn/xwzx/shgj/gdxw/201005/20/t20100520_21426406.shtml
Reuters, 21 May 2010
http://cn.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUKTOE64K06120100521?symbol=AAPL.O
Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior
Telephone: (852) 2392 5464 Fax: (852) 2392 5463
Email: [email protected] Website: www.sacom.hk
Mailing Address: P.O.Box No. 79583, Mongkok Post Office, HONG KONG
SACOM, a Hong Kong-based non-profit organization founded in June 2005, aims to bring concerned students, scholars, labor activists, and consumers together to monitor corporate behavior and to advocate for workers’ rights. SACOM originated from a student movement devoted to improving the working conditions of cleaners and security officers under various universities’ outsourcing policies. The movement created an opportunity for students to engage in activism surrounding local and international labor issues.
SACOM is a core member of GoodElectronics, a global network on human rights and sustainable production in the electronics industry. For details about SACOM research reports and campaign activities, please visit our website at www.sacom.hk.
Contact Persons:
Debby Chan
SACOM Project Officer
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +852 6756 8964
Yi Yi Cheng
SACOM Project Officer
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +852 6012 0312
© Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM)
Jenny Chan
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Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
Tel: +44 (0)7756 511404
Endnotes
- The online blog hosted by media organization Sina in Chinese is entitled “Concerns about new generations of peasant-workers” (guanzhu xinshengdai nongmingong, 19 May 2010, http://t.sina.com.cn/1743939945). The nine signatories of the open statement are: Shen Yuan (Tsinghua University), Guo Yuhua (Tsinghua University), Lu Huilin (Peking University), Pun Ngai (Hong Kong Polytechnic University), Dai Jianzhong (Beijing Academy of Social Sciences), Tan Shen (China Academy of Social Sciences), Shen Hong (China Academy of Social Sciences), Ren Yan (Zhongshan University), and Zhang Duifu (Shanghai University). See the full webtext at Marxist Review, 18 May 2010, http://www.reviewing.cn/article/2010/0518/article_6086.html. ↩
- As of May 2010, Shanghai and Guangzhou municipal governments had adjusted minimum wages to RMB1120/month and RMB1030/month respectively (China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security). Other cities such as Shenzhen and Beijing have not yet increased the wage levels. ↩
- In Shenzhen, by the end of 2008, only 2.28 millions (or 26 percent) of 8.77 millions city population was classified as permanent residents (Shenzhen Government Online, http://english.sz.gov.cn/gi/200911/t20091120_1229134.htm). Unofficially it is estimated that Shenzhen’s total population has exceeded 12 millions. Foxconn’s Longhua and Guanlan plants in Shenzhen hire more than 420,000 employees. Most of the Foxconn workers are young migrants who do not have their rights to urban residency. ↩
- The Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC), established in 2004, includes more than 45 global electronics companies. See the EICC membership at http://www.eicc.info/MEMBERSHIP.htm. ↩
- China Labor Watch press release dated 18 May 2010, “We are extremely tired, with tremendous pressure—A follow up investigation of Foxconn,” at http://www.facebook.com/notes/china-labor-watch-clw/we-are-extremely-tired-with-tremendous-pressure-a-follow-up-investigation-of-fxo/118113421562727. ↩
- Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior press release dated 25 May 2010 (www.sacom.hk). ↩
- See, for example, the award-winning 2009-2010 GlobalPost news series depicting “silicon sweatshops” across the strait of China and Taiwan (by journalists Jonathan Adams and Kathleen E. McLaughlin, with photographer Sharron Lovell) at http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/china-taiwan/091103/silicon-sweatshops-globalpost-investigation. ↩
If you’re in HK you can join SACOM in protest against Foxconn at their offices tomorrow (Tuesday May 25) at 11 AM:
8/F, Peninsular Tower, 538 Castle Peak Road, Kowloon
Enquiry: 6756 8964 (Debby) or 6012 0312 (Yi Yi)
If you’re in Taipei a second protest will take place there at Computex between June 1 and 5 (contact SACOM for details).
Foxconn shut the door when NGOs demand for corrective actions
Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) and other labour NGOs staged a protest outside Foxconn’s Hong Kong headquarters this morning to express our concerns over the high number of suicides at its factories. Disgracefully, Foxconn did not use the opportunity to make a public account on the issue, but shut its door to the protesters. Furthermore, Foxconn called the security guards and police to “receive” us.
The Taiwan-owned Foxconn is the largest electronic manufacturer in the world, and is a supplier of many renowned electronic brands like Apple, Dell, Nokia, HP, and Motorola. As of today, there are already 11 workers committed suicides and resulting 9 deaths within 5 months. Regrettably, the alarming figure cannot make Foxconn to reflect its management methodology. The company insists it is not a sweatshop and does not show sincere motivation to launch structural corrective plan. Therefore, the objective of today’s protest is to urge the company to (1) probe the reasons of the suicidal cases; (2) improve the working conditions at the factory, including offering living wage for workers; (3) facilitate the establishment of democratic workers organizations in the factory; and (4) invite labour NGOs for dialogue on its management methodology and other working conditions in the factory.
From our resent research outside a Foxconn’s facility in Shenzhen, most of the workers agree that they feel stress in the production lines. They are not allowed to talk to each other when working. Even in the same production line, workers do not have chance to get to know their colleagues. During lunch break or dinner break, some workers just finish their meals as soon as possible and take rest afterwards. Meanwhile, some workers do not know other roommates in dormitory for different reasons. Therefore, workers are isolated among each other.
Notwithstanding the overtime work at Foxconn is exceeding 100 hours per month, the workers cannot afford to buy the electronic products which they produce. To demand for a living wage of the workers, we burnt the paper i-Phones, a Chinese ritual to burn the effigies of real products for the deceased as an offering. Lastly, we have a march around the building where Foxconn’s office located.
http://sacom.hk/
SACOM’s protest action at Foxconn’s headquarters in Hong Kong, 25 May 2010
[video by SACOM and friends] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bP87kuPf34
Mainland Chinese university students have created a website to share their care and concerns about Foxconn workers [in Chinese, guan ai fu shi kang gong you]:
http://guanaifskgy.blog.163.com/
When you surf the website, you’d hear the theme song, Grief.
There are related news and commentaries on Foxconn suicides.
Appeal by Sociologists:
Address to the Problems of New Generations of Chinese Migrant Workers, End to Foxconn Tragedy Now
18th May 2010
(this translated version at http://sacom.hk/archives/644; original text in Chinese is posted online at http://tech.sina.com.cn/it/2010-05-19/13214206671.shtml; see also the blog at http://t.sina.com.cn/1743939945?retcode=0)
Since January of this year at the Foxconn Group, nine workers have already attempted suicide by jumping from buildings, resulting in the tragic death of seven, with two injured. Why would these young people, roughly all in their twenties, choose to leave this world in life’s most beautiful time? This loss of life is so distressing, and makes us think deeply about the new problems of the second generation of migrant workers and the status of China as the “world’s factory.”
Over the last thirty years, China has depended on huge numbers of cheap laborers, mainly from rural areas, who have forged an export-oriented style “world factory”, and fueled the rapid growth of China’s economy. But at the same time, the basic survival rights of the work force have been overlooked; we have denied migrant workers’ dignity, paid them at wage levels below the average for third world countries, made it impossible for them to settle and live in the cities, while leaving them to drift back and forth between cities and the countryside. We have made them live a migrancy life that is rootless and helpless, where families are separated, parents have no one to support them, and children are not taken care of. In short, this is a life without dignity. From the tragedies at Foxconn, we can hear the loud cries for life from the second generation of migrant workers, warning society to reconsider this development model that has sacrificed people’s fundamental dignity.
We call on the central government to immediately end the model of development that has sacrificed people’s basic dignity.
Some of our country’s industrial production now occupies a bigger and bigger market share in the low-end global production chains. We have noticed that, with the increase in GDP, there is also an expanding wealth gap and a drop in the price of labour, following the pressure to find jobs. We have also seen that laborers’ right to express their opinion has been constantly ignored. The use of cheap labour to develop an export-oriented economy may have been a strategic choice for China in the first period of its reforms, given restrictions and capital deficiencies due to historical conditions. But this kind of development strategy has shown many shortcomings. Low wage growth of workers has depressed internal consumer demand and weakened the sustainable growth of China’s economy. The tragedies at Foxconn have further illustrated the difficulty, as far as labour is concerned, of continuing this kind of development model. Many second generation migrant workers, unlike their parents’ generation, have no thought of returning home to become peasants again. In this respect, they have started out on a road to the city from which they won’t return. When there is no possibility of finding work by which they can settle in the city, the meaning comes crashing down: the road ahead is blocked, the road back is already closed. The second generation of migrant workers are trapped. As far as dignity and identity are concerned, there is a grave crisis, from which has come a series of psychological and emotional problems. These are the deeper social and structural reasons we see behind the Foxconn workers who walk on the “path of no return”.
We think that development based on a strategy of “poor-human-rights competitiveness” is unsustainable. Today China’s capital is sufficient, the country’s national strength is powerful, and conditions and capacity exist to transform its development model. By relying on the common effort of the country, business, and workers, to conscientiously solve the problem of the second generation of migrant workers, surely it can effectively prevent this kind of tragedy from recurring.
We call on every enterprise, to make a conscientious effort to increase migrant workers’ pay and rights, and allow migrant workers to become true “citizens of the enterprise”.
Since 1988, when Foxconn founded a factory in Shenzhen, China, it has rapidly developed and expanded, with factories extending to the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, the Bohai Sea region and the midwestern region. It employs more than 600,000 workers. Foxconn has become one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers, a global final assembling-supplier which occupies the position of 109th in the world’s top 500 businesses. For 7 consecutive years it has ranked as the number one export corporation on China’s mainland. Foxconn’s situation today is inextricably linked to the blood and sweat of migrant workers. To serve as a business leader which stresses Corporate Social Responsibility, which claims to contribute to society, and value workers, Foxconn ought to pay laborers a dignified wage, provide basic material conditions for a normal, dignified life, and allow migrant workers to become true “citizens of the enterprise”.
We call for local government to protect migrant workers’ housing, education, medical care and other such social needs, to allow migrant workers to become true “citizens”.
Migrant workers’ pay and dignity are not limited to one enterprise, but are rather a universal problem in China. When migrant workers settle and live in cities, the biggest barriers they encounter are housing, their children’s education and healthcare and other such problems. We call on national and local government to take realistic measures which help migrant workers take root in cities, allow them to become true urban workers, and to share the fruits of the economic development they have personally created. Serving as an experimental zone for economic reforms, Shenzhen’s rise to prominence could not have occurred without the painstaking efforts of tens of millions of migrant workers. At the end of 2008, the actual population of Shenzhen city exceeded 12 million, but only 2.28 million were registered as permanent residents. It is migrant workers who made the major contribution to create the rich, strong and prosperous Shenzhen as it is today. As the beneficiaries of the reforms, the Shenzhen city government should improve migrant workers’ living conditions, and take concrete plans to solve migrant workers’ needs for housing, education, healthcare and so on. Shenzhen served as a leader since the 1980s in economic development, and should once again strive to serve as an example of social development and social fairness in the new century.
Finally, we call for the new generation of migrant workers to value their own lives, to value one another’s lives, to use positive methods to respond to the difficult position of laborers today, to strive for basic labour rights and interests, to protect themselves and their families’ rights to a decent life. Like brothers and sisters, unite and help each other, increase your ability to help yourselves when in danger, increase your self-preservation and self-management capability. And we call on all circles of society to work hard together, to participate in and promote the great endeavor of social progress, to build together a harmonious society that lets every laborer live with dignity.
Signed:
Shen Yuan, Professor - Tsinghua University, Sociology Department
Guo Yuhua, Professor - Tsinghua University, Sociology Department
Lu Huilin, Associate Professor - Beijing University, Sociology Department
Pun Ngai, Associate Professor - Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Applied Social Science Department
Dai Jianzhong, Research Fellow - Beijing Academy of Social Sciences
Tan Shen, Research Fellow - Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Sociology Department
Shen Hong, Research Fellow - Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Sociology Department
Ren Yan, Associate Professor - Sun Yat-sen University, Sociology Department
Zhang Dunfu, Professor - Shanghai University, Sociology Department
=======================
Translated by Kate Alexander
Edited by Ellen David Friedman
http://www.gopetition.com/online/36639.html
{The petition is blocked in mainland China - email [email protected] to have her add your name}
June 8th: Global Day of Remembrance for Victims of Foxconn
Imploring workers to cherish their lives
Demanding Foxconn to stop production and reform
Twelve workers have committed suicide as of May 27th at the production facilities of Foxconn Technology Group, a Taiwan-owned enterprise based in Shenzhen. Citizens of the world and members of non-governmental organizations implore workers of Foxconn to cherish their valuable lives, despite the urgent need to protest against their dire working conditions. Suicide should not be a means to protest the harsh management in the factories. We condemn Foxconn for not having even arranged any public vigils for the deceased workers and bereaved families and colleagues so far. To rub salt into the wound, the CEO of Foxconn Terry Gou asserted cynically that the victims committed suicide because of the company’s willingness to compensate their families generously. This heartless effort to blame the victims is a despicable attempt to deny responsibility. It is an insult to the dead and an absolutely deplorable affront to the public. Noting that Foxconn is a producer of iPhones, and that Apple is launching its 4th generation iPhones on June 8th (Hong Kong time), we have decided to make that date the Global Day of Remembrance for Victims of Foxconn. We call on citizens in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan and all over the world to join us in this commemoration of the workers.
Stop production and carry out reform
In this critical time, we strongly urge Foxconn to stop production for a month to probe into the reasons for the high suicide rate in its facilities and to reform its management methods. Workers also need this break to recover physically and psychologically. Regular wages and benefits should remain in effective during this period. In addition, the trade union at Foxconn should be reorganized through democratic elections of leaders, in accordance with the Trade Union Law of China, so that it can defend the rights of workers through collective bargaining. Scandalously, the current president of the trade union, according to media reports, is the secretary of CEO Terry Gou.
Boycott Foxconn’s products, including iPhones, for a month
To increase the pressure, we urge all consumers to boycott Foxconn’s products, such as Apple’s iPhones, for a month, between 1st and 30th June. Foxconn is a supplier to various leading brands including Apple, Nokia, HP, Dell, Sony, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola. International brands constantly drive down prices and demand shorter delivery time when placing orders. To secure contracts, Foxconn minimizes its cost to remain competitive, and transfers the pressure of the increasingly low profit margin to the frontline workers. Workers inevitably suffer as a result. Ironically and tellingly, according to its Annual Reports, between 2008 and 2009, Foxconn International, a subsidiary of the Foxconn Technology Group, increased its workforce by 10,000 (9.7%) to 118,000 strong while its production cost actually declined within the same period to USD 485 million, a drop of USD 187 million or 28%. Analyzing this vicious cycle of exploitation, we must realize that while Foxconn holds primary responsibility in exploiting the workers, global brands like Apple are just as much to blame for this “race to the bottom” game. As such, we strongly demand all brands to examine their inhuman purchasing model.
The tragedies at Foxconn expose the fact that the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), comprised of more than 40 electronic brands, have failed to protect the rights of workers. Its corporate social responsibility mechanism requires immediate and thorough reform. To this end, the EICC should increase its transparency and enable workers to participate in the system. This is the most effective way to stop the recurrence of suicidal cases in the sector.
Initiated by:
Students & Scholars Against Cooperate Misbehavior (SACOM)
Signatories:
Asia Monitor Resource Centre (AMRC)
Community Culture Concern
Community Development Alliance
Globalization Monitor
Hong Kong Women Workers’ Association
ITUC/GUF Hong Kong Liaison Office (IHLO)
Labour Action China
People Planning in Action
Wan Chai Street Market Concern Group
Worker Empowerment
Taiwan People’s Alliance
Taiwan Social Forum
(as of 27 May 2010)
SACOM will update the signatories of co-signed organizations; please show your support by adding your names to the petition now: http://www.gopetition.com/online/36639.html.
Another petition is here (this one’s not blocked in China):
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=714
H/t Tianle for pointing out these two workers’ accounts of working for Foxconn (in Chinese):
http://www.hecaitou.com/blogs/hecaitou/archives/134446.aspx
[photo gallery] Under Pressure at Foxconn
Photos 3 & 5: Protest at Foxconn’s office, Hong Kong unions & NGOs (25 May 2010)
Photo 7: Protest at Foxconn’s headquarters (Hon Hai), Taiwan unions & NGOs (28 May 2010)
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-55314.html
We strongly urge Foxconn to probe into the reasons for the high suicide rate in its facilities and to reform its management methods. In addition, the trade union at Foxconn should be reorganized through democratic elections of leaders, in accordance with the Trade Union Law of China, so that it can defend the rights of workers through collective bargaining. We also call upon Apple and other Foxconn customers to reexamine their purchasing model.
LabourStart [same weblink as Matt has put above]
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=714
China: Suicides at Foxconn, supplier to Apple and other international brands
It’s been dubbed the “suicide express” by Chinese media. Twelve workers, all between 18 and 24 years old, have committed suicide, at the production facilities of Foxconn Technology Group, a Taiwan-owned enterprise based in Shenzhen, southern China.
Foxconn is a key supplier to various leading brands including Apple. International brands constantly drive down prices and demand shorter delivery time when placing orders. To secure contracts, Foxconn minimizes its cost to remain competitive, and transfers the pressure of the increasingly low profit margin to the frontline workers. Workers inevitably suffer as a result. Analyzing this vicious cycle of exploitation, we must realize that while Foxconn holds primary responsibility in exploiting the workers, global brands like Apple are just as much to blame for this race to the bottom game.
The Taiwanese billionaire owner has blamed the suicides on China’s social problems and refused to accept that excessive overtime or Foxconn’s disciplinarian management style had anything to do with the issue. Foxconn has brought in psychiatrists and Buddhist monks, but has refused to change any of the working conditions as being at the core of the problem.
Nine mainland Chinese and Hong Kong academics have issued an open statement calling on Foxconn and the government to do justice for the younger generation of migrant workers and unions and NGOs have organized protests in support of Foxconn workers in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
位于广东省佛山市的本田汽车零部件制造有限公司工人罢工已经进入第十四天。这是近年来中国工人的罢工行动中较为持久的一次，在关心中国工人状况的朋友为富士康工人的跳楼事件感动悲伤的时候，本田工人的斗争无疑起到很大的鼓舞作用。
Honda strike
A 14-day-old strike at a sprawling Honda transmission factory in Foshan, Guangdong.
Radio Melbourne, Australia
http://www.3cr.org.au/aggregator/sources/683
Asia Pacific Currents 29.05.2010
Interview with Jenny Chan, from Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) in Hong Kong, about the spate of worker suicides at Chinese IT factory Foxconn.
Asia Pacific Currents (APC) is produced by Australia Asia Worker Links.
File Download (18:02 min / 8 MB)
By Diana Beaumont
[Face Book] Hon Hai “KILLINGS”!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/hong-hai-sha-hen-da/128403997175970
鴻海殺很大！
終結血汗工廠、還我幸福社會！社運向血汗科技大廠宣戰！
時間：2010年6月1日(星期二)上午09:50
地點：台北世貿南港館（北市南港區經貿二路1號，捷運南港站約15分鐘步行路程）
⋯⋯
聯絡人：自主工聯執行長 朱維立0981-238732、工傷協會專員劉念雲 0921-814241
[video, 6 mins, in Mandarin] Taiwan unions and labor groups protested at Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., Ltd., 28 May 2010
http://www.peopo.org/portal.php?op=viewPost&articleId=57028
Anti-Foxconn / Hon Hai Campaign [as of 31 May 2010]
LabourStart (28 May 2010)
China: Suicides at Foxconn, supplier to Apple and other international brands
http://www.labourstart.org/foxconn
[Your message will be sent directly to Foxconn & Apple]
June 8th: Global Day of Remembrance for Victims of Foxconn
Imploring workers to cherish their lives
Demanding Foxconn to stop production and reform
Boycott Foxconn’s products, including iPhones, for a month
Sign the online petition now (27 May 2010)
http://www.gopetition.com/online/36639.html
[29 May 2010] Radio Melbourne, Australia
http://www.3cr.org.au/aggregator/sources/683
Interview with Jenny Chan, from Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) in Hong Kong, about the spate of worker suicides at Chinese IT factory Foxconn.
Asia Pacific Currents (APC) is produced by Australia Asia Worker Links.
File Download (18:02 min / 8 MB)
By Diana Beaumont
SACOM article
Dying Young: Suicide & China’s booming economy (25 May 2010) http://sacom.hk/archives/640
Press Release (25 May 2010)
Foxconn Shut the Door when NGOs Demand for Corrective Actions
[in English] http://sacom.hk/archives/643
[in Chinese] http://sacom.hk/zh/archives/643
[video, 6 mins, in Cantonese] SACOM and Hong Kong labor groups protested at Foxconn’s headquarters in Hong Kong, 25 May 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bP87kuPf34
[video, 6 mins, in Mandarin] Taiwan unions and labor groups protested at Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., Ltd., 28 May 2010
http://www.peopo.org/portal.php?op=viewPost&articleId=57028
[photo gallery] Under Pressure at Foxconn
Photos 3 & 5: Protest at Foxconn’s office, Hong Kong unions & NGOs (25 May 2010)
Photo 7: Protest at Foxconn’s headquarters (Hon Hai), Taiwan unions & NGOs (28 May 2010)
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-55314.html
MORE INFO:
Appeal by Sociologists (18 May 2010)
Address to the Problems of New Generations of Chinese Migrant Workers,
End to Foxconn Tragedy Now
http://sacom.hk/archives/644
(original text in Chinese is posted online at http://tech.sina.com.cn/it/2010-05-19/13214206671.shtml; see also the blog at http://t.sina.com.cn/1743939945?retcode=0)
Mainland Chinese university students have newly created a website to share their care and concerns about Foxconn workers (May 2010) [in Chinese, guan ai fu shi kang gong you]. Please go to: http://guanaifskgy.blog.163.com/. A theme song, Grief, is dedicated to the young lost lives.
[Face Book] Hon Hoi “Killings”!
(in Chinese / Taiwan, Hon Hai Sha Hen Da)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/hong-hai-sha-hen-da/128403997175970
[Face Book] Electronics Users Against Foxconn
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=239191369998
OTHER RELATED NEWS:
Worker Poisonings: Apple iPhone-maker, Wintek & United Win Technology
(6 May 2010, in Cantonese)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ggSbCm8J1U&feature=related
Pingback: Gogosuperman » China blogs: Factory suicides, immigration law, grand CCTV meetings
Thanks so much Jenny for your work on this.
[SACOM Statement] 4 June 2010, Hong Kong
Another Foxconn Worker Dies – This Time from Exhaustion
Apple’s Image is Based on Exploitation
Yan Li, 27, is the latest victim of Foxconn, the manufacturer of iPads and other high-tech items that has experienced a recent rash of worker suicides. He collapsed and died from exhaustion on 27 May after having worked continuously for 34 hours. His wife said Yan had been on the night shift for a month and in that time had worked overtime every night. Yan, an engineer, had worked for Foxconn since April 2007. The tragedy marks the 11th death at the corporation since January this year. To pay respect to these young lives, Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) designates 8 June 2010 as the Global Day of Remembrance for Foxconn’s Victims.
Despite pressure from civil society and the media, Foxconn continues to deny that the suicides are related to management methods. In a press conference on 26 May, Foxconn CEO Terry Gou said that the suicides were due to love affairs or other personal problems of the victims. He even asserted that some workers committed suicide because of the company’s willingness to compensate their families generously. It is evident that Foxconn shows no commitment to review the structural problem in the factory. Its attempt to evade responsibility is an insult to the dead and to the public.
FOXCONN’s promised wage increase is not even as high as the anticipated rise in the Shenzhen minimum wage
The corporation has announced a plan for a wage increase from CNY 900 to CNY 1200. However, this promise is less generous – and more cynical – than it appears. There have been increases in the minimum wage in many provinces in China this year. For example, the new minimum wage in Shanghai is CNY 1120, and the level in Guangzhou is CYN 1100. It is expected that the Shenzhen government will release the new minimum wage in the next few weeks. Although the amount is unknown, some members of the People’s Congress of Shenzhen suggested the new standard should be around CNY 1400. Apparently Foxconn’s wage increase proposal is just getting a few weeks’ start on an expenditure it will be required to make in the near future anyway.
COMPLICITY FROM APPLE
On 2 June, Apple CEO Steve Jobs defended Foxconn and stated that Apple’s supplier is not a sweatshop. He further commented that the suicide rate at Foxconn was not high. Instead of looking into the problems at Foxconn, Apple is resisting initiating a corrective plan. Jobs’ statement is no more than complicity with Foxconn’s degradation of workers and treatment of them as if they were machines. Even though Foxconn holds primary responsibility for exploiting the workers, global brands like Apple should be accountable too. In the global supply chain, international brands always have the lion’s share of the profit distribution. To secure contracts, Foxconn minimizes its cost to remain competitive, and transfers the pressure of the increasingly low profit margin to the frontline workers. In this “race to the bottom” game, workers inevitably suffer as a result. To reform the vicious cycle, Apple and other electronic brands should increase the unit price it pays in order to provide a truly decent and above-minimum wage for workers.
SACOM demands that Foxconn, Apple and other clients of Foxconn:
1. review the management methods at Foxconn to ease the pressure on workers;
2. facilitate the formation of a trade union through a democratic election;
3. reform the purchasing model to end the “race to the bottom” game; and
4. provide a decent wage so that workers like Yan Li need not endanger themselves by working so much overtime.
To commemorate the victims, SACOM and other Hong Kong partners will stage a protest on 8 JUNE at Studio A, an Apple retailer shop owned by Gou Tai-chiang, the younger brother of Terry Gou.
We also encourage other NGOs, trade unions and individuals to support us on the Global Day of Remembrance by:
1. endorsing SACOM’s petitions and letters to Apple executives at http://www.gopetition.com/online/36639.html and http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=714;
2. issuing a statement to support the workers at Foxconn; and / or
3. staging a protest at Apple’s store and delivering white flowers in memory of the victims.
Contact persons:
CHAN Sze Wan Debby
Project Officer
Tel: (852) 2398 5464 or (852) 6756 8964
Email: [email protected]
CHENG Yi Yi
Project Officer
Tel: (852) 2398 5464 or (852) 6012 0312
Email: [email protected]
PROTEST at COMPUTEX TAIPEI
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/40264
Activists alleging labour abuses by Apple manufacturer Foxconn tried to enter an exhibition centre where Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou was opening Asia’s biggest technology fair.
Holding placards and pictures of Foxconn chief Terry Gou, they “fought with uniformed police as they tried to deliver a letter to the President while he launched Computex Taipei”, says the story.
“Five other IT tycoons, including Apple chief executive Steve Jobs and Cher Wang, chairwoman of Taiwan’s leading smartphone maker HTC Corp, were also targeted.”
Demonstrations over the deaths have also taken place in Hong Kong, it says.
[Face Book] SACOM
http://zh-hk.facebook.com/pages/SACOM/125653814129975
[Face Book] Hon Hoi “Killings”!
(in Chinese / Taiwan, Hon Hai Sha Hen Da)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/hong-hai-sha-hen-da/128403997175970
[Face Book] Electronics Users Against Foxconn
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=239191369998
富士康，一个众多跨国品牌——苹果、戴尔、惠普、联想、索尼爱立信、诺基亚、摩托罗拉、英特尔、索尼、三星、LG、华为、飞利浦、TCL、夏新、海尔、比亚迪的代加工厂，中关村一半的电子产品都由它来生产制造。当你在享受24小时内完成从订单到发货的便利时，你是否想到这每一款电子产品的芯片里沾满了多少青春和血泪？
2010年，富士康大陆工厂已有15名员工自杀身亡，而至今为止没有见到富士康或任何一家跨国公司声称对员工死亡负责。没有任何企业对这些逝去的年轻生命举行悼念活动。跨国资本——苹果公司更丝毫不顾及逝者家属的感情，在这些逝去的年轻生命尸魂未散之际，高调宣布在6月8日召开苹果iphone第四代发布会。富士康与这些跨国资本已没有丝毫仁义可言。
2010年6月8日，全球悼念富士康自杀工人日。
想想你手中的电子产品是否与富士康有关，一起加入到对不良资本的斗争中来吧!
沉痛悼念富士康自杀员工，要斗争，不要自杀。
6月8日下午6：00~6：30，北京中关村市民散步悼念活动，邀你参加。主要在海龙、鼎好、科贸等电子城一带散步，建议穿黑色或灰色T恤，佩戴白花或菊花以示哀悼。除此之外，自由发挥。
愿你我携手，让不良资本无处藏身，让血汗工厂滚出中国！
详情查看附件，或登录：http://guanaifskgy.blog.163.com/
请广泛转发。谢谢！
要斗争不要自杀
当富士康的15个年轻生命选择纵身一跃时，有人说，他们心理有问题。不，他们正是用自己的铁骨在敲打这个病态的社会：人，哪能成为资本的奴隶！
当富士康的15段宝贵青春选择不再延续时，有人说，他们应该跳槽而不是跳楼。不，他们正是用自己的热血在诠释一个万恶的普遍真理：资本，对劳动者的剥削无孔不入！
当富士康的15颗热血心灵选择停止跳动时，有人说，他们太脆弱了。不，他们正是用自己最后的声音在坚强地向整个社会呐喊：自杀，是劳动者最后的罢工！
富士康，一个占中国出口总额3.9%、内地出口效益第一的世界500强企业，顶着无数美丽的光环。在当今这个“招商是功臣，投资是上帝”的时代，它毫无疑问成了各地争相期盼的财神爷。然而，人们不曾想到，华丽的外表之下隐藏着多少丑陋！
富士康，每道工序精确到秒，流水线上的工人就是一颗无法自主的螺丝钉，每天都做着不低于12小时的重复动作。工人完全成了机器的奴隶，在不断传动的流水线上，被弄得精神失常，成本却比机器还便宜。
富士康，工人时刻渴望睡觉却不得不为加班而惆怅，因为不加班就只能拿到每月900元的最低标准工资，而这还不足以糊口。为了生存，为了温饱，员工们不得不签署加班自愿书，成为流水线上一个高速旋转的的轴承。
富士康，宁愿给自杀工人数万元的赔偿，也不愿将员工的最低工资调高一分钱。因为，资本的逐利性让它总是保持着最严格的成本控制。所以，当深圳市的月最低工资从750元增长到900元时，富士康很快就将原本在深圳的手机生产基地转移到月最低工资仍为750元的河北廊坊等地区。
富士康，在同一宿舍住了两年的同事竟然互不认识，生命中除了工作和睡觉，竟然没有任何社交活动，丢了钱包，不能到食堂吃饭，所有人都可能爱理不理。流水线上，你所见到的每个人都是你自己，却又是那么的遥远和陌生。
富士康，一个由退伍军人组成保安队伍、实行半军事化管理的“紫禁城”（拨打110打来的却是内线保安），一个实现从原料到产品都是零库存的魔鬼工厂，一个让工人精神高度紧张、战战兢兢的杀人机器。在这里，你不但要小心犯错，而且要小心老板故意给你设下的陷阱，让你出错；而你一旦出错，老板的怒斥和惩罚速度之快就如它的产品生产一样，精确到秒。更无人道的是，你还会因同事的疏忽和错误而被“株连”。
富士康，宁可斥资台币两亿元（约合人民币5000万元）用来救助流浪狗，透过研究流浪狗的阶级和地域属性来维护狗的权益，而它的工人却过着机械、痛苦、毫无保障的悲惨生活。它会因为丢失一部iphone手机而逼员工自杀，会因员工下班忘记拔插头而罚没一个月工资。在富士康看来，人的价值又值几何？
……
这还不是全部，但已经足够让那些所谓的心理专家的言论苍白无力。在这座人不如狗、人不如机器的监狱里，凭什么不谴责资本家的罪恶却说工人心理承受能力有问题？在这个尊严被践踏、希望变绝望的牢笼里，凭什么舍本逐末、不打破束缚从根本上解决问题却妄想靠协议、防跳网来杜绝自杀？在这一条条人被机器捆绑、生命被资本奴役的流水线上，凭什么不去推翻剥削却让人们转变心态去适应剥削？流水线，流走的不仅仅是工人用血泪换来的产品，还有无数的生命、尊严与希望！
子系中山狼，得志更猖狂！
富士康员工的自杀并没有影响到它以低价获取国际订单的业务量，更没有见到这些跨国资本要求富士康整改。如今，富士康的母公司——台湾鸿海集团已拿下惠普、戴尔等产品2011年全部笔记本电脑的订单。富士康与这些跨国企业不但不对这些逝去的年轻生命举行任何悼念活动，更丝毫不顾及逝者家属的感情，在这些逝去的年轻生命尸魂未散之际，高调宣布在6月8日召开苹果iphone第四代发布会，富士康与这些跨国资本已没有丝毫仁义可言。
不要问丧钟为谁而鸣，它在为你敲响！
沉痛悼念富士康自杀员工！
不要富士康，不要血汗工厂！
罢买苹果，罢买无良电子产品！
反剥削，争平等！要斗争，不要自杀！
2010年6月8日（星期二），全球悼念富士康自杀工人日。
想想你手中的电子产品是否与富士康有关，一起加入到对不良资本的斗争中来吧……
6月8日，建议穿黑色或灰色T恤，佩戴白花或菊花以示哀悼。
愿你我携手，让不良资本无处藏身，让血汗工厂滚出中国！
June 8th, 2010
Remembering the victims of Foxconn
Open letter to Apple CEO
Steve Jobs
On this day, June 8th, we wish the whole world to remember the Foxconn suicides, and we extend our deepest condolences to the victims’ families and friends. We feel very saddened that public comments from Taiwanese billionaire Terry Gou, CEO of the 800,000-strong Foxconn “electronics kingdom”, show a tendency to dismiss the suicides of his young employees without considering the contribution of the high-pressure work environment to this phenomenon.
We call for a comprehensive, independent investigation into Foxconn’s management systems to determine their connection to employee suicides. Foxconn publicizing visits by psychologists with the dismissive suggestion that the number of Foxconn suicides is below the national norm looks like a feeble effort to hide the problem. No genuine scientific study would end on such a comparison which does not consider that the Foxconn suicides were of 18 to 24 year old young people employed in the city.[1] Nor does it consider the “norm” of Chinese workers committing suicide to fight terrible working conditions.
We call on Apple CEO Steve Jobs, head of one of the world’s most successful technology businesses and a big buyer of Foxconn products, to swiftly reform Apple’s purchasing practices to support the enforcement of workers’ rights.
We propose that this reform should rest on the building block of workers’ involvement in decisions that concern them. Workers’ participation will build the community resources to reduce suicides. And strengthening the participation of workers in enterprise management will help monitor and improve working conditions more widely.
We stand in solidarity with citizens of the world to fight for decent work in China and other countries.
Outsourcing, Apple profits, and a fair wage
We wish to express concern that Apple is squeezing its suppliers worldwide with too little concern for the effects of this on the people who produce their products. While the economic crisis pushed hundreds of electronics suppliers out of business, Apple enjoyed record profits, and still Apple used every opportunity to secure ever lower prices from suppliers. Industry sources suggest that Apple awarded 2009 iPhone orders to Foxconn when Foxconn agreed to sell parts at “zero profit”. Apple revenues at the time were upwards of US$10 billion.
Under the direct pressure of Apple and other buyers, Foxconn pays production line workers at its Shenzhen plant only 900 yuan a month for a 40 hour week. This subsistence level wage is not enough to meet workers’ needs and compels workers to work up to 100 hours of overtime a month, close to three times the maximum 36 hours permitted by Chinese labor law.
Foxconn likes to point out that workers sign written “agreements” for overtime. This agreement is nonsense in China where workers enjoy no effective protection from getting fired for refusing overtime. And nowhere does Chinese law give Foxconn, its employees or Apple the right to “agree” to ignore elements of the law they do not like. Foxconn employs 420,000 people only in Shenzhen; 800,000 in China. If Foxconn’s 420,000 Shenzhen employees reduce hours from only a 60 hour work week to fully comply with Chinese law, Foxconn would need to hire close to 100,000 more people![2]
Foxconn tried to show concern for the string of recent suicides, announcing that it will raise workers’ wages to 1,200 yuan a month beginning June 1st. This is again deceptive. The Chinese government froze minimum wage requirements throughout 2009 due to the economic crisis, contributing to Apple’s record profits. Since 2010, however, a number of cities raised minimum wage requirements 20%, and Shenzhen’s minimum wage is expected to rise similarly. Foxconn’s offer of 1,200 yuan a month is not a gift; nor is it a sign of Foxconn’s responsiveness to the risk of new suicides. Foxconn is raising wages to meet the soon-to-rise government required minimum.
Foxconn employees experience long hours of repetitive work for very low income. They submit themselves to management scrutiny on the job, and their low income and limited free time restricts their options outside of work. The result is a community of people under intense stress with few resources where it is much more likely for people to succumb to feelings of powerlessness and depression. This is, we believe, the source of pressure behind the recent suicides.
Apple conducts some audits, but there is no evidence of improved conditions in its suppliers. If anything, the economic crisis is prompting some investors to think of moving to new, less expensive options. And Apple seems content to devote its attention to quick deliveries and competitive prices.
The iPhone, iPad and other Apple gadgets sell for hundreds of US$. Does Apple believe consumers prefer an “acceptable” level of suicide over spending a little more to give workers a life they find worth living?
We call on Apple and Foxconn’s other buyers to raise the unit price of their orders to reflect the true cost of labor to ensure a decent livelihood for the people behind the products, on or off the production line. Workers have a right to a fair, living wage.
The bigger question: How does Apple protect workers’ right to freedom of association?
The deeper problem behind the pressure of high-stress, low-income jobs is restrictions on workers’ right to join together, find their voice and defend their collective interests.
Consider this: When the Chinese government and union do not enforce Chinese law, employers like Foxconn feel free to ignore restrictions on overtime. Excessive overtime reduces pressure on Foxconn to hire more people, and in turn, that reduces pressure on Foxconn to attract people with competitive job offers. Add to that restrictions on migrants’ right to live in the cities, and Chinese workers do not even enjoy the options of a fair and fully functioning labor market.
Apple’s 2009 Supplier Code of Conduct requires suppliers to respect workers’ right to freely form and join organizations of their own choosing and to bargain collectively “in accordance with applicable laws”. This is, however, simpler said than done.
Chinese law gives workers’ key rights including the right to elect union representatives, the right to vote union representatives out of office if they do not represent them, and protection against discrimination for union activities. If Foxconn is any indication, Apple does not enforce its own code of conduct.
Foxconn entered Shenzhen in 1988, but the Shenzhen Longhua plant set up its union only at the very end of 2006 under the pressure of worldwide publicity over exposés of working conditions there. At that time, 118 Foxconn employees — out of then a workforce of 240,000 in total — were unionized under the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU). Currently, the 15-person union committee is appointed by senior management.
Foxconn is China’s biggest exporter. What they do sets the tempo for other employers in China and elsewhere, and influences wider society on multiple levels. And at the end of May, the Guangdong provincial party secretary, the highest-level government official to mention the Foxconn suicides thus far, urged improvements to the union to alleviate the stresses contributing to the suicides.
We call on Apple and other brands to support genuine reform of Foxconn’s unions. Brands and suppliers should commit resources to facilitate union campaigns and elections at the shopfloor level. Independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and reputable labor scholars are ready to assist Chinese unions and management to provide participatory training to all workers at Foxconn.
Through elections and genuine participation, workers will find their voice, ensure respect for their rights and dignity and stop this trend of Foxconn employee’s choosing to end their lives in the prime of their youth.
Apple can, and should, do better
Apple’s revenue for the first quarter of 2010 was US$13.5 billion, a 49% rise in revenue and a 90% rise in profit for that period in 2009 — setting a new Apple record. But Apple fans and shareholders worldwide not only hope to see the business grow. They expect Apple’s success to come from invention and cutting-edge design, not the squeezing of every penny out of workers without a voice. In short, they expect Apple to treat workers with respect and responsibility.
We hope you feel committed to that vision and look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue with you soon, Mr. Jobs.
Contact persons:
CHAN Sze Wan, Debby
Project Officer
Tel: (852) 2398 5464 or (852) 6756 8964
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Jenny CHAN
Advisor
Tel: +44 (0) 7756 511404
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
[1]
For more info, see the brief discussion here, “Crunching the suicide statistics at Foxconn,” May 28th, 2010, China Economic Review, http://www.chinaeconomicreview.com/today-in-china/2010_05_28/Crunching_the_suicide_statistics_at_Foxconn.html.
[2]
Just a quick look at the math: If 420,000 people work 60 hours a week, that is: 420,000 * 60 = 25,200,000 hours of work. To finish 25,200,000 hours of work with people only working 49 hours a week [40 hours plus 1/4 of 36 hours a month overtime permitted by Chinese law], that is: 25,200,000 / 49 = 514,285 people. So, Foxconn needs close to 100,000 more people working 49 hours a week to do the work that their 420,000 people do in 60 hours a week. While this is a simplified exercise, it gives a good sense of the possibilities.
Appeal by concerned international scholars:
Create humane labor standards at Foxconn
and end “stealth manufacturing” in Information Technology!
June 8, 2010
The tragic series of suicides among young workers of the “Foxconn City” factory compound in Shenzhen, China, has alarmed the world. Until now, only few people knew that this is the largest electronics factory in the world, employing more than 300,000 workers. The factory is run by a large multinational company from Taiwan, Foxconn (a subsidiary of Hon Hai group), which is one of the largest electronics manufacturing companies in the world. It produces for the most famous brand names in the global IT industry such as Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Nokia or Sony. Since contract manufacturers like Foxconn and their global customers try to keep their manufacturing operations hidden, this system has correctly been labelled “stealth manufacturing”.
Most of the workers in electronics contract manufacturing and its preferred “low-cost locations” in China, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico, Hungary and other countries in Eastern Europe earn wages below the prevailing national standards. They work in clean and modern factories, but their work is reminiscent of the assembly lines of the early ages of mass production. The workforce of the new factories is made up of rural migrants, most of them women. As global contract manufacturing has grown, labor standards have collapsed and trade unions have been marginalized.
In reaction to the tragic events at Foxconn, a group of nine Chinese sociologists from leading universities in the country have taken the unusual step of issuing a collective appeal. According to their opinion, the crisis at Foxconn reveals deep-ranging problems in China’s current model of economic development, based on low wages, long working hours, and discrimination against rural migrant workers. They challenge the factory regime at Foxconn and call on the Chinese national and local government and the concerned enterprises to allow migrant workers to become “true citizens of the enterprise”.
From an international point of view, we have to call for rigorous action from multiple parties to establish labor standards, occupational and environmental health, and workers’ dignity in manufacturing world-wide, particularly in supplier manufacturing factories. The noted British business journal The Economist is aptly stating that “a firm and an industry that has become accustomed to obscurity will have to get used to the limelight” (May 29, 2010).
Changes in the labor policies of the contract manufacturing sector must be based on a comprehensive effort to restore transparency and public scrutiny over the contract relations between brand name and contract manufacturing companies. Meticulous attention needs to be devoted to labor, health and environmental standards, as well as to democratic participation of workers at the workplace. The so-called “Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC)” – a code of conduct and mechanism of consultation established by major IT companies - has failed completely to secure basic standards of work, environmental justice and social responsibility throughout the electronics industry and its “supply chains”.
Workers must have a right to:
• Representation and collective bargaining by trade unions to defend their interests and rights.
• Information about, and protection from, hazardous materials used in manufacturing.
• Guarantees of working hours and work intensity that will not threaten physical or mental health.
Communities, government agencies, and the public have a right to know:
• What are the working conditions in contract factories and whether the basic rights of workers are respected?
• What hazardous materials are used in manufacturing and whether the manufacturing process complies with internationally accepted standards of occupational safety and health?
• Where, by whom, and under which conditions brand name products are manufactured?
• What are the financial and economic conditions of manufacturing contracts between brand names and their suppliers, and whether suppliers and manufacturers are squeezed?
• What impact corporate decisions on the allocation of manufacturing contracts, downsizing and closings of factories, and the establishment of new manufacturing facilities have on communities?
In the light of these urgent questions, we call on the relevant companies and government agencies in China and internationally to support an independent international investigation of the economic, financial and social backgrounds of the tragic events at Foxconn. Such an investigation should be led by the International Labour Organization with participation from independent academic experts, trade unions, labor and environmental NGOs, and other organizations with relevant expertise in the field, excluding those who are linked to corporate interests or have received substantial funding from the affected corporations in recent years.
SIGNATORS:
(full list: please go to www.sacom.hk)
Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior
Telephone: (852) 2392 5464 Fax: (852) 2392 5463
Email: [email protected] Website: www.sacom.hk
Mailing Address: P.O.Box No. 79583, Mongkok Post Office, HONG KONG
[press release]
8 June 2010
Global Day of Remembrance for Foxconn’s Victims
Foxconn and Apple keep evading responsibility
Today is the Global Day of Remembrance for Foxconn’s Victims. Besides the release of the 4th generation i-Phone, it is also the date of the Foxconn International Group (or Hon Hai Precision Industry Company Ltd) held the shareholder meetings in Hong Kong and Taiwan respectively. SACOM members and about 20 activists staged a protest outside the meeting of Foxconn and paid tribute to the deceased workers. To express concerns over the suicides at Foxconn, more than 5,000 organisations and individuals from over 100 countries endorsed SACOM’s petition. While the company received our letter before the meeting, Foxconn CEO Terry Gou reiterated that personal problems and humanitarian aid from the company drove workers to commit suicide. As such, Foxconn will stop issuing any humanitarian aid for the victim’s family. It is deplorable that Foxconn does not see the need to initiate any corrective plan to ease the pressure encountered by the workers.
Last week, Foxconn stated that it would raise wage of workers by 30%. Yesterday, it further announced another proposal to increase wage of workers up to CNY 2000 by October if the workers can pass the performance assessment. SACOM welcomes the wage increase at Foxconn, but is vigilant about the details of the plan. The terms of the plan are obscure, for example, is the amount the basic wage of the workers; does it include the overtime premium; what are the criteria for the assessment?
Afterwards, dozens of concerned activists and students staged another protest outside Studio A, an Apple retailer store located in Causeway Bay. Studio A is owned by Gou Tai-chiang, the younger brother of Terry Gou. Participants delivered white flowers to the 11 victims at Foxconn and paid silent tribute to the deceased workers. Then, protestors declared the crimes of the Apple CEO Steve Jobs, including poisoning workers, employing child labour, compressing delivery time, pressing down unit price. SACOM targets Apple not only due to the issue at Foxconn, but the labour rights violations found in other suppliers. It is incumbent on Apple to investigate the problems in the management methods and working conditions of its suppliers. Equally important, Apple must review its purchasing model.
Apart from SACOM, over 50 international scholars issued an appeal to call on Foxconn to create humane labor standards and end “stealth manufacturing” in IT industry. The letter is available at http://sacom.hk/archives/649. There are also demonstrations in Taiwan and United States to mark the Global Day of Remembrance for Foxconn’s Victims.
Contact persons:
CHAN Sze Wan Debby
Project Officer
Tel: (852) 2398 5464 or (852) 6756 8964
Email: [email protected]
CHENG Yi Yi
Project Officer
Tel: (852) 2398 5464 or (852) 6012 0312
Email: [email protected]
ZDNet Australia
http://www.zdnet.com.au/foxconn-makes-no-profits-on-iphones-activists-339303764.htm
Foxconn makes no profits on iPhones: activists
By Mahesh Sharma, ZDNet.com.au on June 10th, 2010
Apple secured a “zero profit” deal to receive iPhones from Chinese technology manufacturer Foxconn, according to a worker rights activist group, which has linked the factory’s poor wages and working conditions with a number of young worker suicides.
In an open letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Hong Kong-based Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) said he should personally intervene to improve wages and worker rights at Foxconn.
Apple, the world’s biggest technology company by market capitalisation, and Foxconn made headlines after a number of young workers committed suicide, which labour groups and unions have attributed to the long hours of repetitive work for very low income.
On Tuesday 8 June, SACOM organised protests outside Apple stores and the shareholder meeting of Foxconn’s parent company Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. The same day Apple announced a new model iPhone, SACOM penned an open letter to Jobs and declared an international day of remembrance for the workers who have died at the Foxconn factory.
The letter claimed that pricing agreements secured by Apple and other vendors have contributed to the poor conditions in Foxconn factories, where workers have committed suicide.
“Industry sources suggest that Apple awarded 2009 iPhone orders to Foxconn when Foxconn agreed to sell parts at ‘zero profit’,” SACOM wrote. “Under the direct pressure of Apple and other buyers, Foxconn pays production line workers at its Shenzhen plant only 900 yuan (AU$159) a month for a 40-hour week.
“This subsistence level wage is not enough to meet workers’ needs and compels workers to work up to 100 hours of overtime a month.”
“They submit themselves to management scrutiny on the job, and their low income and limited free time restricts their options outside of work. The result is a community of people under intense stress with few resources where it is much more likely for people to succumb to feelings of powerlessness and depression.
“This is, we believe, the source of pressure behind the recent suicides.”
ZDNet Australia has contacted Apple for comment, but had not received a response at the time of writing.
To improve the enforcement of workers’ rights, SACOM has called on Apple to raise unit prices of orders and revise purchasing practices, including its supplier code of conduct.
“The iPhone, iPad and other Apple gadgets sell for hundreds of US dollars. Does Apple believe consumers prefer an ‘acceptable’ level of suicide over spending a little more to give workers a life they find worth living?
“We propose that this reform should rest on the building block of workers’ involvement in decisions that concern them.”
SACOM also took aim at Foxconn and called for an independent review of its management systems and overtime agreements.
“No where does Chinese law give Foxconn, its employees or Apple the right to ‘agree’ to ignore elements of the law they do not like.
“Foxconn employs 420,000 people only in Shenzhen; 800,000 in China. If Foxconn’s 420,000 Shenzhen employees reduce hours from only a 60-hour work week to fully comply with Chinese law, Foxconn would need to hire close to 100,000 more people!”
However, Foxconn chairman Terry Gou told attendees at the company’s shareholder meeting that no laws had been broken.
Gou cited data from the Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center that said most of the workers who committed or attempted suicide had romantic or family relationships, while three had psychological problems, Bloomberg reported.
by Amanda Bell
7 June 2010, New York City
Worker rights supporters in New York City held a memorial service for Foxconn workers outside Apple’s flagship Fifth Avenue store on Monday, June 7. Supporters said an ecumenical prayer and read the names of the dead. They also decorated the surrounding sidewalk with photos of the victims, signs urging Apple to take action to help Foxconn workers, and a funeral bouquet. After the service, the group entered the Apple store and asked the management to display the bouquet, which bore a card with the names of all the dead, as a memorial inside the store. Management immediately refused, called security guards, and ordered the group out of the store. Management also refused to accept a letter to Steve Jobs, saying, “No, mail it yourself.” The memorial service attendees peacefully left the store, then leafleted customers outside for an hour. Many customers took leaflets and asked questions about the deaths at Foxconn. They were sympathetic and asked what they could do to help.
Activists are asking concerned members of the public to send letters to Apple and Foxconn executives at the Labour Start website: http://www.labourstart.org/foxconn (created on 28 May 2010, ACTIVE)
United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS)
Stand with Chinese workers making Apple iPhones
(created on 14 June 2010; ACTIVE – in English)
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/apple_suicides/
“Tell Apple to Stop Exploiting its Chinese Factory Workers!”
What’s at stake?
Stand with Chinese workers making Apple iPhones
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/apple_suicides/explanation
United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS)
At Foxconn, a major manufacturer of Apple’s iPhone, iMac, iPad and iPod touch, a disturbing wave of suicides recently caught the media’s attention. But Apple has been on notice for 5 years as the target of a campaign by USAS’ Hong Kong partner Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM). Despite persistent attempts by SACOM to get Apple to stop the abuses at Foxconn, Apple CEO Steve Jobs outrightly denied the problem until just days ago. As recently as June 2, Jobs denied the factory was a sweatshop and dismissed the suicides as insignificant.
PRAYER
Bless all who have died by their own hand.
Grant them peace from their inner turmoil.
Grant them the compassion of love.
Comfort those who mourn their loved ones.
Strengthen them to face the irreparable loss.
Help us to change the cruel circumstances in this world that cause despair.
Amen.
In our prayer, Amanda Bell & Jenny Chan
Pingback: Dying Young: Suicide & China’s Booming Economy « PEACECOMRADE.ORG
Members and friends of the Boston Local of the Democratic Socialists of America
Paul Garver
June 13, 2010
Remembering the suicide victims at Foxconn
We wish to commemorate the ten young workers who committed suicide so far this year at the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, China. We extend our deepest condolences to the victims’ families and friends.
We call for a comprehensive, independent investigation into Foxconn’s management systems to determine their connection to employee suicides.
We welcome the announcement that hourly wages will be increased in Foxconn to reduce the need to work excessive overtime hours to earn a basic living. We call upon the global electronic companies for whom Foxconn supplies products to facilitate that wage increase by paying Foxconn an adequate price.
These global companies are squeezing their suppliers worldwide with no concern for the effects on the people who produce their products. For instance, industry sources suggest that Apple awarded 2009 iPhone orders to Foxconn when Foxconn agreed to sell them parts at “zero profit”.
We call on Apple CEO Steve Jobs, head of one of the world’s most successful technology businesses and a major buyer of Foxconn products, to promptly reform Apple’s purchasing practices to support the enforcement of workers’ rights at its suppliers.
We propose that this reform rest on the building block of workers’ involvement in decisions that concern them. Workers’ participation will build the community resources to reduce suicides. Strengthening the participation of workers in enterprise management will help monitor and improve working conditions .
We stand in solidarity with citizens of the world to fight for decent work in China and other countries.
Pingback: Dying Young: Suicide & China’s Booming Economy - Trial: World People's Resistance Movement (Britain)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ikF9vD3R_A
10 JUNE 2010
Guadalajara, Mexico
Mexican & Chinese workers of Foxconn united
A vigil for the victims of Foxconn
Chinese Progressive Association (SF)
17 June 2010
On one side of the apple store, we, nearly 60 community and labor union organizers, lined up people with the “DeathPad” signs and on the other side of the apple store we lined up youth with the names of all the suicide victims.
We read off the names of the victims and did a moment of silence for each victim.
Youth, workers, senior tenants and labor unions gave brief solidarity statements.
The Foxconn worker suicides were a wake up call for us to (re)connect our issues of local wage theft/worker exploitation to global worker exploitation and the exploitation of young migrant workers.
Thank you for everyone’s work and solidarity. It is great to see so many other actions happening in the US!
In Solidarity, alex
Pingback: FOXCONN: DES CONDITIONS DE TRAVAIL INHUMAINES POUSSENT AU SUICIDE | Peuples Solidaires
In memory of the Foxconn workers who REJECTED THE LIFE OF SLAVERY hidden behind the myth of I-phone
Statement by SHARPS
22 June 2010
(FULL TEXT - http://stopsamsung.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/statement-by-sharps-in-memory-of-the-foxconn-workers-who-rejected-the-life-of-slavery-hidden-behind-the-myth-of-i-phone/)
….
Let’s make our living and working places a place where people can live properly as human beings, through the strong international solidarity of workers, so that the workers’ deaths would not have been in vain!
Action Committee for Reinstatement of Laid-off Samsung Workers
All Together
Association for Research on Occupational Health
Association of Victims of Occupational Injuries
Chungnam Joint Committee about Leukemia in Samsung
Coalition for Elimination of Occupational Injury in Masan, Changwon, and Geoje
Coalition for Elimination of Occupational Injury in Ulsan
Dasan Human Rights Center
Democratic Labor Party (Gyeonggi local)
Dongwoo Fine Chem Union Chapter of KMWU
Gyeonggi Informal Labor Center
Gyeonggi Law center of KCTU
Gyeonggi Local branch of KCTU
High Tech RCD Korea Branch of KMWU
Inchon Association of Victims of Occupational Injuries
Kiryung Electronics Chapter of KMWU
Korea House of International Solidarity
Korea Institute of Labor Safety and Health
Korean Metal Workers Union(KMWU)
National Association of Professors for Democratic Society
New Progressive Party (Gyeonggi local)
Preparatory Committee for Socialist Workers Party (Gyeonggi local)
Socialist Party (Gyeonggi local)
Solidarity for worker’s health
Supporters for Health And Right of People in Semiconductor industry(SHARPS)
The Solidarity for Healthy Labor World
The Solidarity for Healthy Labor World
Wonjin Labor Safety and Health Education Center
June 25th, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Is EICC protecting Apple and Foxconn on recent worker suicides?
On May 28th, under mounting pressure from labor rights group and concerned scholars around the world, the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) Board of Directors expressed that they were saddened about the loss of life at Foxconn. The 8-member EICC Board, consisting of representatives from IBM, Dell, Jabil, STMicroelectronics, Cisco, Intel, Flextronics, and HP, has established a task force to study factors affecting employee health and welfare in their own facilities as well as in their suppliers in the global supply chains.
However, the EICC Board had failed to “invite” its members Apple and Foxconn to attend a phone conference with concerned civil society organizations, scheduled for June 21st. Hong Kong-based Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) believes that EICC is, in effect, protecting Apple and Foxconn from taking direct responsibility for the suicides of young workers at the workplace.
EICC is a company-only industry association established in 2004 following waves of international anti-sweatshop campaigns targeting technology brands. It published a voluntary Code of Conduct to ward off public criticisms of alleged sweatshop labor conditions in their production chains. The Code focuses on five elements: labor, health and safety, ethics, the environment, and management systems. As of December 2008, according to its first Annual Report, the EICC had 45 member companies, with an average yearly increase in membership of 55 percent. In 2009, seven companies did not renew their membership reportedly because of the economic downturn. Four new companies joined EICC in the same year. As of December 2009, EICC had 42 members.
While EICC is interested in member recruitment and renewal, SACOM is far more concerned about the mechanism under which a company’s membership is going to be suspended or disqualified.
Business interests from within the EICC network seem to discourage any serious questioning of their own failures in taking corporate social responsibility.
SACOM demands open access on-site at Foxconn’s Longhua and Guanlan plants in Shenzhen City and Foxconn’s other facilities in the north and in interior provinces in China. A research team of academics, mainly from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, are seeking to look into the management methods and dormitory conditions at Foxconn during this summer. SACOM and the Academic Research Team will write up a comprehensive report for public release.
Effective July 1st, Foxconn will pay its 450,000 Shenzhen employees a wage 9% higher than the legal minimum wage level, i.e., 1,200 yuan/month. This pay rise, unfortunately, still falls short of the most basic living standards in big cities. We advocate for the right of Chinese workers to have democratic elections of union leaders, and to conduct collective consultations of wages and benefits. We also call on Apple and Foxconn’s other buyers to raise the unit price of their orders to reflect the true cost of labor. This is to ensure a decent livelihood for the people behind the “best-selling products” such as iPhones and iPads.
Additional info:
Appeal by 9 sociologists (18 May 2010)
Address to the problems of new generations of Chinese migrant workers,
End to Foxconn tragedy now!
http://sacom.hk/archives/644
(Statement in Chinese at http://tech.sina.com.cn/it/2010-05-19/13214206671.shtml;
see also the blog at http://t.sina.com.cn/1743939945?retcode=0)
Appeal by concerned international scholars (8 June 2010)
Create humane labor standards at Foxconn and
end “stealth manufacturing” in information technology!
http://sacom.hk/archives/649
(Chinese translation at http://sacom.hk/hk/archives/649)
Appeal by Taiwan Scholars (13 June 2010)
End to sweatshops, safeguard labor and human rights!
http://sacom.hk/hk/archives/676
Online petition in Chinese: http://sites.google.com/site/laborgogo2010/
(English translation at http://sites.google.com/site/laborgogo2010eng/)
Contact persons:
Debby Chan, Project Officer, [email protected], + 852 6756 8964
Jenny Chan, Advisor, [email protected], +44 (0) 7756 511404
###
2010年6月25日
電子企業公民聯盟(EICC) 包庇蘋果與富士康？
受全球各地勞工團體及關注學者施予的壓力，5月28日，電子企業公民聯盟(Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition, EICC)董事會，對外表示為富士康的死者而難過。EICC此8人董事會，成員為IBM、Dell、Jabil、STMicroelectronics, Cisco, Intel, Flextronics及HP的代表，成立了專門小組，調查會影響其公司、以及其全球供應鏈上供應商的員工健康與福利之因素。
然而，EICC董事會卻無法「邀請」其成員蘋果及富士康，參與原定於6月21日舉行的電話會議，與民間組織展開對話。香港大學師生監察無良企業行動(Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior, SACOM)相信，EICC實際上是包庇了蘋果及富士康，免為年輕工人的自殺事件負上直接責任。
EICC應全球反血汗工場運動而生，是成立於2004年的行業協會，成員俱為科技品牌公司。EICC發表了自願性質的生產行為守則，以迴避公眾對其行業內生產工人身受惡劣工作條件的指責。該行為守則著眼5項內容：勞工、職業安全健康、道德、環境及管理系統。2008年12月，EICC發表的首份年報指，在平均每年55%會員增長率下，其時聯盟已有成員公司45家。2009年，7間EICC會員公司據報道因為經濟不景氣，不再續會，同年，有4間公司新加入聯盟。2009年12月，EICC有成員公司42家。
EICC熱衷於招募及更新其成員會籍，但SACOM更關注的，是EICC如何暫停或取消某公司成員資格的機制。EICC業界內部的商業利益，似乎已妨礙了其對自身無法承擔應有的企業社會責任，作出認真的探詢。
SACOM要求對富士康深圳龍華、觀瀾及其他在中國大陸廠房，作公開的在地調查。本會的調查隊，將在這個暑假，調查富士康的管理方式及宿舍條件。SACOM將就調查所得撰寫及發布研究報告。
今年7月1日起，富士康將為其45萬名深圳員工調整月薪至1200元人民幣，比深圳巿法定最低工資稍高9%。但不幸地，此薪酬仍遠遠落後於大城巿的基本生活水平。我們提倡，中國工人依法實行民主選舉工會領袖，並就工資與福利作集體協商。我們並要求蘋果及富士康的其他客戶，因應勞動成本而提高其採購單價，以確保在暢銷產品如 iPhone、iPad背後的生產工人，也能過上有尊嚴的生活。
參考資料：
9位社會學者的呼籲：解決新生代農民工問題，杜絕富士康悲劇重演！
(2010年5月18日)
http://sacom.hk/hk/archives/644
國際學者的呼籲：在富士康創建人道的勞工標準，並結束資訊產業的“隱形製造”！ (2010年6月8日)
http://sacom.hk/hk/archives/649
台灣學者的呼籲：終結血汗工廠、捍衛勞動人權！
(2010年6月13日)
http://sacom.hk/hk/archives/676
網上聯署：http://sites.google.com/site/laborgogo2010/ (中文版)； http://sites.google.com/site/laborgogo2010eng/ (英文版)
聯絡人：
SACOM項目幹事 鄭依依，電郵：[email protected]，電話：+852 6012 0312
SACOM顧問 陳慧玲，電郵：[email protected]，電話：+44 (0) 7756 511404
###
By Jenya Godina
http://neweranews.org/blog/apple-supplier-factory-linked-to-worker-suicides-youth-activists-respond#comment-7634
June 29, 2010
Apple Supplier Factory Linked to Worker Suicides, Youth Activists Respond
Warning: if you’re reading this on a Macbook, iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, things are about to get a little bit awkward. Everybody’s favorite multinational technology corporation, Apple, has been linked to deplorable conditions at a supplier factory in China that have resulted in worker deaths and provoked a widespread outcry.
The Foxconn supplier factory in Shenzhen, China, which assembles Apple’s most popular products, such as iPhones and Macbooks, in addition to products sold by Dell and Hewlett-Packard, maintains rigorous working conditions. Forbes reports that
“Workers…struggle through mind-numbing 10-hour days and are forced to accept overtime, getting only one day off a week. There is a strict ban on communication on the shop floor, and labor activists complain of production lines that move too fast. Workers live 12-to-a-room in company dormitories.”
United Students Against Sweatshops states that Foxconn’s young workforce in Shenzhen faces “working as long as 36 hours nonstop without overtime pay, earning poverty wages, facing humiliation by company managers and being denied independent union representation.”
Since January, these abysmal conditions have resulted in 13 worker suicide attempts, of which ten were successful, as well as the death of an additional worker from exhaustion. The situation has become so dire that Foxconn has asked their employees to sign a pledge stating that they won’t commit suicide. This contract, as translated by Chinese lifestyle blog Shanghaiist, includes such heartwarming directives as
“In the event of non-accidental injuries (including suicide, self mutilation, etc.), I… will not sue the company, bring excessive demands, take drastic actions that would damage the company’s reputation or cause trouble that would hurt normal operations.”
One would think that having to require employees to sign a non-suicide pact is indicative of something problematic about the way a business is being run.
However, executives from both Foxconn and Apple have downplayed or denied problems at the Shenzhen factory.
“For a factory, it’s pretty nice,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said at the All Things Digital conference in early June.
Meanwhile, Kogan Technologies founder Ruslan Kogan attributed outcry over Foxconn conditions to exaggeration by the media.
“I think it’s been blown way out of proportion,” said Kogan. “If you look at the numbers objectively, rather than beef up the media hype like a lot of people have, you can see that if you live in China and work at Foxconn you’re about ten times less likely to commit suicide than if you didn’t.”
No matter how statistics are manipulated, however, the fact remains that conditions in Shenzhen are linked to an alarming wave of suicides and have driven workers to exhaustion. This state of affairs has incensed anger worldwide and provoked action from groups such as United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) and the Hong Kong-based Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM).
Through the leverage of consumers at universities and high schools, such organizations seek to pressure Apple into using its vast power to establish living wages, legal working hours, and legitimate union representation for the young workers at their supplier factory.
An open letter to Steve Jobs on the SACOM website responds to claims diminishing the significance of the suicides by stating:
“The dismissive suggestion that the number of Foxconn suicides is below the national norm looks like a feeble effort to hide the problem. [The claim] does not consider that the Foxconn suicides were of 18 to 24-year-old young people employed in the city. Nor does it consider the ‘norm’ of Chinese workers committing suicide to fight terrible working conditions.”
On the USAS website, supporters can send a message to Steve Jobs that includes the declaration that “As students who purchase Apple products, we demand that you, CEO of one of the most innovative and successful companies in the world, forge the path for responsible corporate development.”
In addition to this campaign, USAS hopes to use boycotts and events at Apple stores to raise awareness among consumers and force Apple to raise its supplier factory condition standards.
Jack Mahoney, a national organizer with USAS, spoke to New Era News about the power of youth activism and its potential to elicit change.
“If someone like Steve Jobs right now doesn’t feel like they need to take this seriously, then students and other concerned people can really drive the message home and put it where you know Steve Jobs cares about, which is the company’s profits and whether or not people are going into the store and buying their products,” Mahoney said.
The fact that Apple has dismissed the significance of the suicides, says Mahoney, is “very disturbing… I think it shows Steve Jobs’ total lack of awareness of what’s really going on in the factories that supply Apple despite persistent attempts by advocate groups to let the company know what’s going on.”
However, Mahoney is confident in the ability of passionate individuals and grassroots organizing to enact change.
“You can just get a small group of friends together, get in touch with us to get any information you need to make a leaflet or something like that and just head on out to the store and start conversations with customers or store managers,” Mahoney said. “That would be a really productive next step… to make the company feel like they need to take the issue a little more seriously and hopefully start responding to labor advocate groups.”
So, perhaps there is a bright side to the situation in Shenzhen, if students are willing to engage in it: an opportunity for youth activism to improve an unfortunate state of events and make a mark on the world. Whether you’re rushing to rid your house of Apple products in response to the Foxconn controversy or you’re among those who believe that the situation has been over-hyped in the media, the potential of organizations such as USAS, as well as the power of grassroots organizing in the field of labor advocacy, is undeniable.
As of 30 JUNE, no response from either Apple or Foxconn.
SACOM, based on our fieldwork, will release an investigative report on Foxconn conditions.
Suicide as Protest for the New Generation of Chinese Migrant Workers: Foxconn, Global Capital, and the State
Jenny Chan and Ngai Pun
Recommended citation: Jenny Chan and Ngai Pun, “Suicide as Protest for the New Generation of Chinese Migrant Workers: Foxconn, Global Capital, and the State,” The Asia-Pacific Journal, 37-2-10, September 13, 2010.
Abstract
A startling 13 young workers attempted or committed suicide at the two Foxconn production facilities in southern China between January and May 2010. We can interpret their acts as protest against a global labor regime that is widely practiced in China. Their defiant deaths demand that society reflect upon the costs of a state-promoted development model that sacrifices dignity for corporate profit in the name of economic growth. Chinese migrant labor conditions as articulated by the state, are shaped by these intertwined forces: First, leading international brands have adopted unethical purchasing practices, resulting in substandard conditions in their global electronics supply chains. Second, management has used abusive and illegal methods to raise worker efficiency, generating widespread grievances and resistance at the workplace level. Third, local Chinese officials in collusion with enterprise management, systematically neglect workers’ rights, resulting in widespread misery and deepened social inequalities. The Foxconn human tragedy raises profound concerns about the working lives of the new generation of Chinese migrant workers. It also challenges the state-driven policy based on the use of internal rural migrant workers, whose labor and citizenship rights have been violated.
Key words: suicide, protest, new generation of migrant workers, global labor regime, migrant wages, electronics manufacturing service (EMS) industry, Foxconn, international brands, citizenship, China
To die is the only way to testify that we ever lived
Perhaps for the Foxconn employees and employees like us
– we who are called nongmingong, rural migrant workers, in China –
the use of death is simply to testify that we were ever alive at all,
and that while we lived, we had only despair.
- a worker blog (after the 12th jump at Foxconn)
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Mark Selden, Chris Smith, Dimitri Kessler, Boy Luthje, Ellen David Friedman, Diana Beaumont, John Sexton, Amanda Bell, Garrett Brown, Chantal Peyer, Pauline Overeem, Jeffrey Ballinger, and activists from SACOM. We thank deeply the many scholars and union organizers around the world who contribute to improve labor conditions at Foxconn and other workplaces.
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Lives and Deaths in Foxconn
(30-second short video statement) http://www.publiceye.ch/en/vote/foxconn/
VOTE for the worst company of the year 2011!
VOTE for FOXCONN! [by midnight on the 27th Jan 2011]
At least 18 workers committed suicide at Foxconn in 2010. They were internal migrants from the countryside in the 17 to 25 age group.
In the 21st century China, India, Mexico and other countries, Foxconn workers have “nothing to lose but their chains” (Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, 1848, The Communist Manifesto).
Click to vote now!
Let’s support struggling Foxconn workers!
2010 © SACOM (with GoodElectronics and Bread for All)
Yes, I’ll best you’d like to “protest” this corporation. You’d like working standards to be become just bareable where they can be ruthlessly exploited but not commit suicide. That way you can have your iPod guilt-free! The only solution is people’s war, revolution, and socialism.