Foxconn confirms another employee death

[OhioChick]

Source: Economic Times of India

2 Jun 2010, 1746 hrs IST,AGENCIES

BEIJING: Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn on Wednesday confirmed the death of another employee but denied he died of exhaustion following a spate of suicides at its Chinese plants.

Yan Li, 27, died on Friday after working the night shift for more than a month at a Foxconn plant in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, China Labor Watch said, citing Yan's sister, and adding that he was killed by exhaustion.

"We have reviewed this matter and while we cannot speculate the specific cause of death, we have found nothing to support any allegation that it was work-related," a spokesman for Foxconn said in a statement.

"We have met with Mrs Yan and expressed our condolences and as a compassionate gesture have provided a level of support to assist her at this very difficult time."

Foxconn, which makes a range of top-selling products including Apple iPhones, Dell computers and Nokia mobile phones, said earlier Wednesday it was raising the pay of its Chinese assembly line workers by 30 percent.

Ten workers at the giant Foxconn plant in Shenzhen have fallen to their deaths in apparent suicides this year. An 11th worker died at another factory in northern China.

The deaths have raised questions about the conditions for millions of factory workers in China, especially at Foxconn, where the activists say long hours, low pay and high pressure are the norm.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs on Tuesday defended conditions at Foxconn, saying it was "not a sweatshop".

Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/ites/Foxconn-confirms-another-employee-death/articleshow/6003732.cms

[ChromeFoundry]

1. Meanwhile...."Apple CEO Jobs says Foxconn Conditions Not so Bad"

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Apple-CEO-Jobs-Says-Foxconn-Conditions-Not-So-Bad-566877/

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Something tells me...

That illness has taken more of a toll on Jobsie than is known. He is becoming increasingly weird and disconnected from normative reality.

[Milford81]

3. Steve Jobs

has always kind of creeped me out. How did he get that job any way, how do you become head spokesperson for a company thats suppost to be for free and independent thinkers, yet he gets on stage about every month and dictates what his followers should be looking forward to. Bill Gates doesnt pull this crap. J Allerd might have been the closest thing but that was for XBOX.

[onehandle]

4. Steve Jobs founded Apple and Bill Gates left active duty at Microsoft ten years ago.

But, that was very entertaining.

[Milford81]

5. Co-founded by Jobs

and when Bill Gates was at Microsoft he didnt have American Idol esque speeches. Not that I love Microsoft, I just find Apple is losing its very thing that made it cool. Which I guess was sort of open independent we are not in it for the man kind of stuff. Now there cell phones are locked, only usable on one carrier, they black oped some dude for leeking there new 4g phone, and there factories are driving there employees to suicide, all for profit. Sounds like there taking steps in the wrong direction. I'm just glad my IIe isnt alive to see this.

[alfredo]

6. Steve Jobs' statement on the suicides

This was during an interview at the D8 conference.

On Foxconn suicides: "We're all over this. We do one of the best jobs in any industry of understanding suppliers' working conditions. Foxconn is not a sweatshop, it's a factory. 13 suicides out of 400,000 workers this year is less than the U.S. rate of 11 per 100,000, but it's still troubling. We're trying to understand things right now and we have people over there."

[Kelvin Mace]

7. If you REALLY cared

you bring the jobs back to the U.S.

But you don't so you won't.

[alfredo]

8. Can you imagine the "macs are overpriced" crowd then?