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Foxconn hopes music will cheer suicidal workers
By Wang Xiang |
May 24, 2010, Monday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
FOXCONN'S Shenzhen factory has begun playing music on its assembly line to soothe work stress following 10 suicide attempts and eight deaths among its workers this year.
The factory said it would have a comprehensive plan to enhance working conditions within a month after media reports described it as a sweatshop, Oriental Morning Post reported today.
As a part of the plan, the factory started to recruit more than 2,000 singers, dancers, and gym trainers on Sunday to help its 400,000 workers relax. The factory also plans to hire psychiatrists to help its workers deal with stress.
The company has set up a 24-hour suicide prevention hotline, an Internet café and other entertainment.
In the meantime, new three-meter fences are being installed around the factory's dormitory buildings to stop suicidal workers from jumping, the report said.
But some workers told the newspaper that adding fences was only superficial and suicidal workers would surely find other ways to end their lives. They said the wire fences added to their stress, making workers as if they were living in prison every day.
More than 400,000 workers live in the three-square-kilometer factory area. Ten of the factory's workers have jumped from dormitories since the beginning of this year. Eight of them died.
The spate of suicides attracted media focus and public outrage of the factory's "hellish working conditions," the report said.
Starting work at 4am every day, the workers repeat the same moves thousands of times, according to a former report.
One worker told Guangdong based Southern Weekend that he would deliberately drop something on the ground so that he could have a few seconds of rest when picking it up.
The factory said it would have a comprehensive plan to enhance working conditions within a month after media reports described it as a sweatshop, Oriental Morning Post reported today.
As a part of the plan, the factory started to recruit more than 2,000 singers, dancers, and gym trainers on Sunday to help its 400,000 workers relax. The factory also plans to hire psychiatrists to help its workers deal with stress.
The company has set up a 24-hour suicide prevention hotline, an Internet café and other entertainment.
In the meantime, new three-meter fences are being installed around the factory's dormitory buildings to stop suicidal workers from jumping, the report said.
But some workers told the newspaper that adding fences was only superficial and suicidal workers would surely find other ways to end their lives. They said the wire fences added to their stress, making workers as if they were living in prison every day.
More than 400,000 workers live in the three-square-kilometer factory area. Ten of the factory's workers have jumped from dormitories since the beginning of this year. Eight of them died.
The spate of suicides attracted media focus and public outrage of the factory's "hellish working conditions," the report said.
Starting work at 4am every day, the workers repeat the same moves thousands of times, according to a former report.
One worker told Guangdong based Southern Weekend that he would deliberately drop something on the ground so that he could have a few seconds of rest when picking it up.
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