The Suicide Tragedies of Chinese Migrant Workers at Foxconn Technology Group in Shenzhen, China

We are aggrieved by the series of suicides committed by the employees of Foxconn Technology Group in Shenzhen city in China in the last five months. Twelve workers have jumped from the buildings or attempted to commit suicide in the Shenzhen production facilities of Foxconn. These are young migrant workers in their early twenties and the suicides have killed ten young and precious lives leaving the other two seriously injured.  We expresses its deepest regret for the tragedy and condolence to the victims’ families and friends.

In a meeting celebrating the election of worker models in Xiamen city in April, President Hu Jintao reiterated the principle of decent work and Premier Wen Jiabao called for dignity at work in delivering the Government’s work report in the National People’s Congress in March. Besides expressing our deepest condolences to the victims and their families, We appeals to the Chinese government, the All China Confederation of Trade Unions, Foxconn and all the brand companies that are sourcing from Foxconn to take the necessary measures to offer assistance to the bereaved families and victims and develop effective, long-term mechanism that promotes decent work for the prevention of further tragedies and loss of precious life in Foxconn and other companies in China.

Foxconn Technology Group is the epitome of China – the Global Factory of today. The company is the largest manufacturer of mobile phones, telecommunication equipment and computer parts/assembly in China and in the world. In 2008, the production value of the corporation contributes to 3.9% of China’s total export value at USD55.6 billion, and 22% of the total export value of Shenzhen city at USD37 billion.  The Group employs a near total of 800,000 workers in China and the Shenzhen facilities alone employ nearly 420,000 employees.

At the time same time, the world is shocked to hear the stories unfolded by the employees telling maybe not the worst textbook cases of sweatshop violations, but nonetheless dismayingly, alienation at work and in their social life as migrant workers. The tragedy that has taken place in Foxconn is the product of the Taiwanese company’s harsh management practices, the particularly vulnerable situation of the migrant workers in China as they are integrated into the cost-competitive based development model of the Chinese and global economy, and the lack of truly representative, participatory grassroots trade unions especially in the foreign and private invested enterprises in China.

We welcome the joint intervention and investigation of the suicides taken by the various departments of the Shenzhen government including the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Ministry of Health and the All China Confederation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) in Shenzhen City. At the same time, we also notice that there is a cry from the government and Terry Guo, Chair of the Foxconn Group for “less coverage of the bad news and more coverage of the bright stories” for fear of provoking more suicides. We believes that only with an investigation that truly reflects the grievances of the workers, acknowledges the problems, commits to serious rectifications and returns justice to the deceased workers can further speculations and grievances amongst the workers and the families be quelled.

We appeal to the Shenzhen government for an open, candid and fair investigation report about the real and fundamental causes to the deaths of these young lives and recommendations for timely corrective measures.

Back in 2005-6, Foxconn was one of the priority targets of the ACFTU’s trade union building campaign with the top 500 multi-national companies in China. The formation of the branch union in Foxconn in Shenzhen in December 2006 was followed by the negotiation of the collective contract on wage incremental mechanism with the company in 2007.  Yet, the Chair of the trade union is also working as an assistant to Foxconn’s Chair, Terry Guo; and regretfully, none of the victims had contacted the branch union for assistance before they killed themselves.

We have taken note of the measures taken by the Shenzhen ACFTU and the Foxconn branch union to provide workers’ hotlines, psychological counseling and more recreational facilities, alongside the emergency measures taken by the company including the establishment of a Mutual Care and Love Group in the factory. The Shenzhen ACFTU is also pledging to form union in each subsidiary facility, organise workers’ assembly and promote union monitoring of company practices. Nevertheless, rectification of the harsh management practices, implementation of the collective contract, collective bargaining on wages increment and other working and living conditions can only be accomplished by a truly representative trade union elected and supported by its members.

We appeal to the Shenzhen ACFTU and its branch union in Foxconn for election of union officers by the rank-and-file workers, and democratization of the trade union structure for the promotion of grassroots participation and real implementation of the collective contract and bargaining with the company.

Foxconn is the core supplier to the top telecommunications and computer companies in the world including Apple, DELL, HP, SONY, Nokia etc. The cut-throat competition in the ICT sector leads to low sourcing prices, zero inventory and demand for tight security to the suppliers to prevent information leaks. These are critical factors that result in the harsh management system and low remuneration of workers in the supplier factories including Foxconn in China and in other countries. We are aware of such a trend in the industry. We will seek to address these issues with the multi-national companies as well as the Electronics Industry Citizens Coalitions (EICC), in which Foxconn and other core Asian suppliers are member, via our affiliates and the Global Unions. To ensure that decent work are truly provided to workers, such sourcing practices must be altered and freedom of association and collective bargaining be implemented in real terms with workers in their supplier factories.

IHLO
May 2010

For more information see: Foxconn Suicides: Governments and Companies Must Face Responsibilities