Apple’s No 1 but there’s blood on your iPhone

Published: Friday, May 28, 2010,

By Venkatesan Vembu | Place: Hong Kong | Agency: DNA


An epidemic of suicides, including three more unconfirmed deaths on Thursday, at a factory in southern China that assembles Apple iPhones and iPads, among other branded electronic goods, has reinforced the darkest stereotypes of Chinese sweatshops, and prompted a global campaign for a boycott of Made-in-China consumer electronics.

Reports and photographs of the latest alleged deaths — including a ‘double suicide’ — surfaced on Chinese web sites on Thursday, but were swiftly deleted by censors. If confirmed, they could take the number of suicides at Foxconn’s sprawling factory in Shenzhen since January to 14. Two other workers survived suicide attempts.

Labour activists told DNA most of the dead were young migrant workers from rural China, who worked for up to 60 hours a week, for a pitiful minimum wage, at a “military-style” disciplinarian workplace in an unfriendly city without access to social benefits and no sense of community.

Most of them jumped to their death from their dormitories.
“Foxconn workers told us they had no avenues to channel their workplace stress,” says Debby Chan, project officer at Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (Sacom), a non-profit organisation that campaigns for workers’ rights. Free trade unions are disallowed in China, including at the factories of Foxconn, a Taiwanese-owned Fortune 500 company and the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, which has factories in many countries, including India.

“On the production line, workers have to stand all day and complete a task every seven seconds, and cannot talk to one another,” says Chan. “And in their spartan dormitories, which they share with 10-12 others, they don’t have friends. They live in an atmosphere of alienation and isolation.”

Working conditions at Foxconn may be drawing particular attention, but they are by no means unique to the company, says Geoffrey Crothall, communications director at China Labour Bulletin, an NGO that promotes Chinese workers’ rights.

“The same factory system and the same problems can be found at companies across southern China and in the coastal areas.”
In fact, Crothall reckons, similar suicides at other factories may be going unreported. “The reason why this Foxconn factory gets so much attention is, firstly, because it is connected to major international brands, including Apple.” Additionally, he adds, the mainland Chinese media has been focussing on it because the company is Taiwanese-owned.

Taiwanese administrators’ disrespect for mainland Chinese workers, and management strategies aimed at creation of only short-term jobs are critical reasons underlying the spate of suicides, according to Li Qiang, executive director at China Labour Watch.

Sacom is coordinating with global NGOs to observe June 8 as a “global day of remembrance” for the suicide victims at Foxconn and to urge consumers to boycott Apple iPhones, “which come with the bloodstains of economically exploited Chinese migrant workers”.

Crothall sees the consumer boycott call as “a valuable attempt to raise global awareness of the events at Foxconn” but suggests an alternative approach.

“Apple should get actively involved in the problems of Foxconn, and if additional costs are to accrue from giving better wages to workers, Apple could pass them on to consumers — who then have the choice whether or not to buy the product.”