The Foxconn suicides was a suicide spate linked to low pay at the so-called "Foxconn City" industrial park in Shenzhen, China, that occurred alongside several additional suicides at various other Foxconn-owned locations and facilities in Mainland China. The 18 attempted suicides by Foxconn (Chinese: 富士康) employees resulted in 14 deaths. The suicides drew media attention, and employment practices at Foxconn—one of the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturers—were investigated by several of its customers, including Apple and Hewlett-Packard (HP). Foxconn is a major manufacturer that serves high-profile consumer electronics firms such as Dell, Motorola, Nintendo, Nokia, and Sony.
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That being said, ABC News and The Economist both reported that the suicide rate of Foxconn employees was actually lower than the country's overall suicide rate.
Suicides
Although the number of workplace suicides at the company in 2010 was large in absolute terms, the rate is low when compared to the rest of China. The country has a high suicide rate with over 20 deaths per 100,000 persons. In 2010, the worst year for workplace suicides at Foxconn with a total of 14 deaths, its employee count was a reported 930,000 people.
Pre-2010
While 2010 was a remarkable year for the company in terms of the suicide rate, employee suicides have occurred at Foxconn in other years as well.
2010
An estimated 18 Foxconn employees attempted suicide in 2010, with a minimum of 14 deaths.
2016
Eva Dou of the Wall Street Journal reported the suicide of a 31-year old night shift worker at Foxconn's production building in Zhengzhou on 18 August 2016.
Analysis
Labor activists stated the suicides supported their assertion that numerous labor abuses take place at Foxconn. However, economic conditions external to the company also might have been influential—during the same year, several major strike actions at other high-profile manufacturers occurred in China, and the Lewisian turning-point is a macro-economic factor that might provide context for the events.
One expert claimed that employees were treated comparatively well at Foxconn. Boy Lüthje, of Germany's Institute of Social Research, told the Economist publication that the company pays the minimum monthly wage of 900 yuan (US$130), food and accommodation are free, and free recreational facilities are also accessible. However, the publication noted that overtime, in excess of the 36 hours a month allowed by Chinese law, was routinely demanded from employees.
The suicide rate at Foxconn during 2010 remained lower than that of the general Chinese population at the time as well as all 50 states of the United States.
Foxconn clients
Apple issued a public statement about the suicides, and company spokesperson Steven Dowling said: "[Apple is] saddened and upset by the recent suicides at Foxconn... A team from Apple is independently evaluating the steps they are taking to address these tragic events, and we will continue our ongoing inspections of the facilities where our products are made." The statement was released after the results from the company's probe into its suppliers' labor practices were published in early 2010. Foxconn was not specifically named in the report, but Apple identified a series of serious labor violations of labor laws, including Apple's own rules, and some child labor existed in a number of factories.
Apple committed to the implementation of changes following the suicides, but was again in the media in December 2014 for labor issues at another factory of a Chinese supplier. On this occasion, a reporter said that Apple was continuing to "repeatedly" break the promises made after Foxconn in 2010.
Reports
The 2010 suicides prompted 20 Chinese universities to compile an 83-page report on Foxconn, which they described as a "labour camp." Interviews of 1,800 Foxconn workers at 12 factories found evidence of illegal overtime and failure to report accidents. The report also criticized Foxconn's management style, which it called inhumane and abusive. Additionally, long working hours, discrimination of mainland Chinese workers by their Taiwanese coworkers, and a lack of working relationships were all presented as potential problems in the university report.
A 2012 audit of Foxconn performed by the Fair Labor Association, at the request of Apple Inc., suggested that workplace accidents might be commonplace and that workers may consider overtime pay insufficient.
Foxconn
The chairman of Foxconn, Terry Gou, made the following statement at a press conference focused on the controversy: "We are certainly not running a sweatshop. We are confident we'll be able to stabilize the situation soon. A manufacturing team of 800,000 people is very difficult to manage." At the time of the company's press conference, the factory in which the deaths occurred employed up to 300,000 people.
In response to the suicides, Foxconn substantially increased wages for its Shenzhen factory workforce, installed suicide-prevention netting, brought in Buddhist monks to conduct prayer sessions inside the factory, and asked employees to sign no-suicide pledges. Workers were also required to sign a legally binding document guaranteeing that they and their descendants would not sue the company as a result of unexpected death, self-injury, or suicide.
Protests
In May 2010, the Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) group held a protest in the lobby of Foxconn's Hong Kong headquarters. Around 25 protestors laid mannequins to rest and conducted funeral rites, while a spokesperson informed the media and onlookers: "We are staging the protest because of the high death rate [at Foxconn], with an abnormal number of workers committing suicide in the past five months". Activists from the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions were also present and held signs that read: "Foxconn lacks a conscience" and "Suicide is no accident." They also burned cardboard cutouts resembling iPhones.
The family of Ma Xianqian, one of the dead workers, protested outside the Foxconn factory. On 28 May 2010, demonstrators protested outside Hon Hai’s Taipei headquarters laying flowers for those who had died at the Foxconn plant. Taiwan unions and labor activists were also present at the Taipei protest, and displayed banners that displayed Chinese text that translate into English as: "For wealth and power—physical and mental health spent, hopes lost" and "For profit of the brand—youth spent, dreams shattered."
8 June 2010, the date of Foxconn’s Annual General Meeting, saw student protesters from an anti-Foxconn Hong Kong non-profit, Hong Kong labor unions, and rights groups demonstrated outside a Hong Kong Apple store.
A small group of young organizers picketed at an Apple store in San Francisco on 17 June 2010. The protesters carried placards showing the names and ages of the dead workers.