Thaindian News

May 26, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): In the past one year, there have been 10 cases of suicide in a Chinese electronics factory referred to as Foxconn. The company is the world’s biggest contract manufacturer of electronics. It generates computers, mobile phones, etc for first-rate firms like Apple Inc, Dell Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co, Nokia Corp and Sony Corp.

On Wednesday, a 23-year-old employee named He jumped to his demise from the company’s plants’ dormitory edifice around 11.20 p.m.

The death, which has been established by Foxconn officials, is the 12th suicidal endeavour made by the company’s workforce. Previously, two of the firm’s workers survived suicide attempts but sustained brutal injuries.

Terry Gou, Foxconn’s chairman, flew to Shenzhen to express regret before hundreds of local and foreign media professionals. Gou has deemed that the rationale for suicides is that the young workers are staying away from their residences and the company is somehow failing to offer them the care, which they get from their family members.

420,000 out of 800,000 of Foxconn’s employees in China function at the Shenzhen plant and a majority of them reside at the dormitories on the factory’s grounds.

Some judge that the raison d’être for the suicides could be anything from lengthy working hours, meagre remunerations, unjust treatment from supervisors, lack of a social network for the uprooted migrant workers to personal loneliness.

However, the Foxconn officials have repudiated the conjectures of mistreatment of workers.

Terry Gou has guaranteed to do everything in his power to thwart suicides and around 100 counsellors are being trained to assist the employees to cope with their sentiments.