Foxconn answers critics over suicidal iPhone engineer
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Foxconn, a manufacturer of Apple's iPhone, has sought to deflect the firestorm of criticism that followed the suicide of a company engineer, Sun Danyong, who reported that an iPhone 4G prototype had gone missing.
According to The New York Times, Foxconn general manager James Lee said in an interview that "Several times [Sun] had some products missing, then he got them back. We don’t know who took the product, but it was at his stop."
As The Reg reported last week, the 25-year-old leapt to his death from his apartment's 12th story window after being questioned by Foxconn security chief Gu Qinming about the missing prototype - one of 16 such units that Sun had been entrusted with.
Sun reportedly told friends that the questioning had included a beating - a charge denied by Gu in an interview with the Southern Metropolis Daily. According to Gu, "I questioned him about [being present when the prototype went missing], but he did not answer. I became a little angry and grabbed his right shoulder to get him to reenact the situation. But he would not move."
Gu has since been suspended without pay pending an investigation by Chinese authorities.
Foxconn has faced charges of employee abuse before, notably in 2006 when the Mail on Sunday reported that the company, along with Asustek, forced employees to work more than 60 hours per week, packed them into dormitories with more than 100 workers per room, denied them visits from non-employees, and paid them a mere £27 per month.
In response to Sun's suicide, employee-rights watchdog China Labor Watch issued a statement decrying "Foxconn's inhumane and militant management system," which, CLW alleges, includes "beatings with iron bars and whips". CLW also darkly claims that "Sun Danyong's death [was not] the first suicide at Foxconn factory," but offers no details.
CLW also alleges that "Only workers producing for Apple are given a stool to sit while working, and all others must stand".
In response to the 2006 allegations, Apple reported that it "immediately dispatched an audit team comprised of members from our human resources, legal and operations groups to carry out a thorough investigation of the conditions at the manufacturing site".
After that investigation, Apple stated that "We found the supplier to be in compliance in the majority of the areas audited. However, we did find violations to our Code of Conduct, as well as other areas for improvement that we are working with the supplier to address."
Apple's response to Sun's suicide has been more muted. Cupertino's official statement is that "We are saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee, and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death. We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect."
Foxconn has not admitted culpability in Sun's suicide. It has, however, paid compensation to his family amounting to around $44,000, according to the NYT. The company also gave his girlfriend an Apple laptop.
After speaking with the family about the compensation payments, the NYT also reports that "a security guard, who was joined by two men wearing Foxconn shirts, threatened to 'beat up' a journalist's translator if she persisted in asking the family questions. According to The Times, Foxconn officials later said the guard was not on staff and that he might have been with the police bureau. ®
COMMENTS
Re: Fair Trade Mark
>Personally I try to buy stuff that's not from China
You're confusing made in with assembled in, the majority of the component parts of your electronic goods were more than likely to have been made in China or at the very least in manufacturing plants that take advantage of local customs.
@ vishal vashisht
>Boycotts work, just like the SA one
What did South Africa have that could be boycotted apart from cheap wine which on the whole is undrinkable anyway? South Africa was changed by political isolation not a consumer boycott. If you think otherwsie and you actively boycotted South African goods then give us an example.
60 hours a week...
The unions all over Europe keep blabbering about "Defending the european worker", but that's only hot air.
The only thing they could do to really defend the workers would be parachuting by nighttime in chinese factories, and start unionising them to give the chinese workers a higher pay and more free time.
But that would mean running some kind of risk, so that will never happen...
@@Charles Manning
You miss my main point:
It is nearly, if not completely, impossible to boycott Foxconn et al and use the www or a phone etc, since they make everything from ethernet cables to routers, PCs etc. Therefore submitting a comment that you're boycotting Foxconn is just plain retarded since you're using their products to say that you won't use them. Then you're using them again to read the comments.
Gettit?
Sure, I agree that we, as an industry, should exploit these people less and do more for them. But to do that requires that we be prepared to pay more for products or demand that companies take better care of the workers in their product streams. You can achieve that by approaching companies, particularly the big brands, and telling them what you feel.
The same goes for all products that you buy that are made in China etc.
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