Foxconn's fatality toll rises to 9
By Wang Xiang |
01:41 UTC+8 May 26, 2010
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE ninth employee at Foxconn's massive factory in southern China fell to his death yesterday, the latest in a suspected plant suicide spate this year.
Li Hai, 19, died after he fell from a building at 6:20am.
The latest fatality came just a day after Foxconn founder Terry Gou, a tycoon from Taiwan, said he was confident of heading off the suicides.
Gou said from Taipei yesterday he was leaving for the plant, in Guangdong Province's Shenzhen, to deal with the scandal.
Witnesses said Li jumped from the fifth floor of the training-center building.
Police officers told Xinhua news agency that the latest death was a suicide.
Police found a note left by Li in his dorm. In the note, Li apologized to his father that he could no longer take care of him. "I have no capabilities. I have got what I deserve," the note reportedly said.
Chen Hongfang, deputy director of Foxconn's labor union, said Li had only worked in the South China Training Center in Foxconn's Guanlan plant for 42 days.
"Li was a vocational-school graduate from central China's Hunan Province," Chen said.
This is the 11th similar case of 2010 at the Shenzhen plant, the world's largest supplier of iPhones and iPads. The only two survivors were both severely injured.
Superstition has now spread among workers that the factory may be haunted.
Foxconn has more than 800,000 employees on Chinese mainland and 420,000 are based in Shenzhen in a plant covering less than 3 square kilometers.
These employees work 12-hour shifts and are paid at minimum local wages of 900 yuan (US$132) per month.
Nan Gang, 21, who worked in the logistics department at the plant, jumped to his death just after finishing the night shift last Friday.
Police found he was dumped by two girlfriends and had gambling woes.
An investigation team was sent by the Shenzhen government and stationed at the plant just days before Nan's death.
Reports have said that the string of suicides backed up long-term claims that Foxconn workers toiled in "hellish conditions."
Two workers told Dragon TV that low-ranking managers frequently bashed them.
Gou on Monday denied the allegations, saying he was "not running a sweatshop."
The Shenzhen factory also insisted workers were treated well, citing hordes of applicants lining up outside its gates seeking jobs.
Li Hai, 19, died after he fell from a building at 6:20am.
The latest fatality came just a day after Foxconn founder Terry Gou, a tycoon from Taiwan, said he was confident of heading off the suicides.
Gou said from Taipei yesterday he was leaving for the plant, in Guangdong Province's Shenzhen, to deal with the scandal.
Witnesses said Li jumped from the fifth floor of the training-center building.
Police officers told Xinhua news agency that the latest death was a suicide.
Police found a note left by Li in his dorm. In the note, Li apologized to his father that he could no longer take care of him. "I have no capabilities. I have got what I deserve," the note reportedly said.
Chen Hongfang, deputy director of Foxconn's labor union, said Li had only worked in the South China Training Center in Foxconn's Guanlan plant for 42 days.
"Li was a vocational-school graduate from central China's Hunan Province," Chen said.
This is the 11th similar case of 2010 at the Shenzhen plant, the world's largest supplier of iPhones and iPads. The only two survivors were both severely injured.
Superstition has now spread among workers that the factory may be haunted.
Foxconn has more than 800,000 employees on Chinese mainland and 420,000 are based in Shenzhen in a plant covering less than 3 square kilometers.
These employees work 12-hour shifts and are paid at minimum local wages of 900 yuan (US$132) per month.
Nan Gang, 21, who worked in the logistics department at the plant, jumped to his death just after finishing the night shift last Friday.
Police found he was dumped by two girlfriends and had gambling woes.
An investigation team was sent by the Shenzhen government and stationed at the plant just days before Nan's death.
Reports have said that the string of suicides backed up long-term claims that Foxconn workers toiled in "hellish conditions."
Two workers told Dragon TV that low-ranking managers frequently bashed them.
Gou on Monday denied the allegations, saying he was "not running a sweatshop."
The Shenzhen factory also insisted workers were treated well, citing hordes of applicants lining up outside its gates seeking jobs.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
