Foxconn again in limelight as 150 workers threaten mass suicide

Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, is yet again in the limelight, for unwarranted reasons, with around 150 of its workers threatening to commit mass suicide by leaping from their factory roof in protest against pathetic working conditions.

Workers at Foxconn's Technology Park in Wuhan, China, where parts for Microsoft's Xbox 360 are manufactured, had, last week, threatened to commit mass suicide from top of their three-floor plant.

Foxconn today said in a statement that about 150 employees had protested for two days but they were eventually pacified and asked to come down by Foxconn managers and local Communist Party officials.

Foxconn, which churns out products for Nintendo, Apple, Acer, Nokia, Sony, Hewlett Packard and Dell, has a long history of workers jumping from the top of factory buildings due to harsh working conditions and meager wages.

The year 2010 saw about 18 workers jumping from the tops of the company's buildings, which resulted in 14 deaths.

To stem the suicides Taiwanese electronics company Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, operating in China as Foxconn, had deployed anti-suicide nets at most of its factories in China.
The latest protest began on 2 January after Foxconn shunted around 600 workers to a new production line that was making computer cases for Taiwan-based computer company Acer.

Workers complained that the move was made without imparting any training, and were paid on the number of completed computer cases. Since the assembly line ran very fast, all workers had blisters on their hands after just one day.