Foxconn worker leaps to death
Source: Agencies |
June 15, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FOXCONN Technology Group, the main supplier for Apple Inc, said yesterday that a worker at a Chinese plant jumped from his apartment on Wednesday, the first suicide since the company agreed with its US client to improve work conditions.
The 23-year-old worker fell to his death from his apartment outside the plant in the southwestern city of Chengdu, according to Foxconn. The worker, who was not identified, joined the company last month and police were investigating the death.
Apple and Foxconn reached an agreement in March to improve conditions for the 1.2 million workers assembling iPhones and iPads, a landmark decision that could change the way Western companies do business in China. Under the agreement, Foxconn is to hire tens of thousands of new workers to reduce overtime work, improve safety protocols and upgrade housing and other amenities.
The move came after Apple, criticized over working conditions at its sprawling chain of suppliers in China, agreed to an investigation by the independent Fair Labor Association earlier this year to stem criticism that its products were built in sweatshop-like conditions.
A string of suicides among young workers were reported at Foxconn in 2010, and three workers died in an explosion at a Foxconn plant in Chengdu last June.
Foxconn announced in February that it had raised wages for workers by 16 to 25 percent.
About 100 workers from Foxconn's Chengdu plant, located in Sichuan Province, went on a rampage earlier this month in a dispute in a restaurant.
The 23-year-old worker fell to his death from his apartment outside the plant in the southwestern city of Chengdu, according to Foxconn. The worker, who was not identified, joined the company last month and police were investigating the death.
Apple and Foxconn reached an agreement in March to improve conditions for the 1.2 million workers assembling iPhones and iPads, a landmark decision that could change the way Western companies do business in China. Under the agreement, Foxconn is to hire tens of thousands of new workers to reduce overtime work, improve safety protocols and upgrade housing and other amenities.
The move came after Apple, criticized over working conditions at its sprawling chain of suppliers in China, agreed to an investigation by the independent Fair Labor Association earlier this year to stem criticism that its products were built in sweatshop-like conditions.
A string of suicides among young workers were reported at Foxconn in 2010, and three workers died in an explosion at a Foxconn plant in Chengdu last June.
Foxconn announced in February that it had raised wages for workers by 16 to 25 percent.
About 100 workers from Foxconn's Chengdu plant, located in Sichuan Province, went on a rampage earlier this month in a dispute in a restaurant.
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