Hundreds of Foxconn employees threaten suicide

[think]

14. We are talking about China. Foxconn workers are basically at the mercy of the corporate overlords

Last edited Wed Jan 11, 2012, 12:18 PM - Edit history (1)

It is similar to early conditions in industries like mining here in America before we started unions and protecting labor in America.

As for the Foxconn, (fitting name) the suicides have been ongoing for a long time now:

[div class="excerpts"]
IPhone Workers Say `Meaningless' Life Sparks Suicides

By Bloomberg News - Jun 2, 2010 6:58 PM CT

....“Life is meaningless,” said Ah Wei, his fingernails stained black with the dust from the hundreds of mobile phones he has burnished over the course of a 12-hour overnight shift. “Everyday, I repeat the same thing I did yesterday. We get yelled at all the time. It’s very tough around here.”

Conversation on the production line is forbidden, bathroom breaks are kept to 10 minutes every two hours and constant noise from the factory washes past his ear plugs, damaging his hearing, Ah Wei said. The company has rejected three requests for a transfer and his monthly salary of 900 yuan ($132) is too meager to send home to his family, said the 21-year-old, who asked that his real name not be used because he is afraid of his managers.

At least 10 employees at Taipei-based Foxconn have taken their lives this year, half of them in May, according to the company, also known as Hon Hai Group. The deaths have forced billionaire founder Gou to open his factories to outside scrutiny and apologize for not being able to stop the suicides. Gou built his company into the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer and now clients from Apple Inc. to Hewlett-Packard Co. are probing the company’s working conditions.....

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-02/foxconn-workers-in-china-say-meaningless-life-monotony-spark-suicides.html
[div]