Carne Seca
Well-Known Member
Factories making Apple iPhones and iPads forced staff to sign pledges not to commit suicide before they were taken on.
At least 14 workers at Apples Chinese supplier Foxconn have killed themselves in 16 months. More have either survived suicide bids or were stopped from trying at plants in Chengdu and Shenzhen.
One executive accused victims of doing it to win compensation payouts for grieving relatives. In the aftermath of the tragedies, staff seeking jobs at the giant factories were ordered to make written promises not to follow suit.
They even had to vow that if they did, their families would not claim more than the legal minimum in damages. The wave of suicides came as worldwide demand for iPhones and iPads rocketed, forcing staff to put in up to 98 hours of overtime a month almost three times the limit in Chinese law.
Foxconn insist they had to break the law to hit targets, even though excessive overtime is banned by international law and Apples own code of conduct. The computer giant founded by Steve Jobs netted s3.5billion profit in the first quarter of this year alone.
But the basic pay for Chinese workers is as little as s5 a day. Staff claim they are publicly humiliated if they complain or break strict company rules. Some are even made to clean toilets as punishment.
They are banned from talking at work, have to stand up for their entire 12-hour shifts and are made to do military marching drills. Half a million Chinese many of them teenagers and even kids work at the factories. They sleep in high-rise dormitory blocks where hair-driers and kettles are outlawed.
One man who broke the rule had to write in a letter: It is my fault. I will never blow my hair inside my room. I have done something wrong. I will never do it again. Most of the suicides have involved staff leaping off the dormitory blocks. Bosses have now rigged up nets on all the balconies to stop jumpers.
Apples own inspectors found fewer than a third of factories obeyed overtime rules. They also found 91 children working worldwide last year. A probe into the suicides by two international watchdogs uncovered the no-suicide pledge staff had to sign and the shocking extent of compulsory overtime.
The Centre for Research on Multinational Companies and the human rights group SACOM (Students Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour) both accuse Apples contractors of treating workers like machines. SACOM official Leontien Aarnoudse said: They work excessive overtime for a salary they can hardly live on and are inhumanely treated. Conditions are harsh and they don't have a social life. Their life is just working in a factory and that is it.
Investigators said Fox- conn reacted to the wave of suicides by calling in monks to exorcise evil spirits.
Production of iPhones and iPads in Chengdu and Shenzhen is round-the-clock with staff working up to 12 hours a day, six days a week. On top of the basic week workers are made to do 12 hours overtime and some staff work as many as 72 hours a week way over Chinas legal limit. Yet Apples code of conduct for suppliers says: Except in emergency or unusual situations, a work-week shall be restricted to 60 hours, including overtime.
All overtime shall be voluntary. Under no circumstances shall work-weeks exceed the maximum permitted under applicable laws and regulations. But one worker told the watchdogs demand for the first iPad was so intense staff often had to put in seven-day weeks.
Foxconn boss Louis Woo confirmed workers had to do excessive overtime but insisted the suicides were unrelated. He said: There was a copy effect if one commits suicide, others will follow. Apple insisted it was committed to the highest standards of social responsibility.
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At least 14 workers at Apples Chinese supplier Foxconn have killed themselves in 16 months. More have either survived suicide bids or were stopped from trying at plants in Chengdu and Shenzhen.
One executive accused victims of doing it to win compensation payouts for grieving relatives. In the aftermath of the tragedies, staff seeking jobs at the giant factories were ordered to make written promises not to follow suit.
They even had to vow that if they did, their families would not claim more than the legal minimum in damages. The wave of suicides came as worldwide demand for iPhones and iPads rocketed, forcing staff to put in up to 98 hours of overtime a month almost three times the limit in Chinese law.
Foxconn insist they had to break the law to hit targets, even though excessive overtime is banned by international law and Apples own code of conduct. The computer giant founded by Steve Jobs netted s3.5billion profit in the first quarter of this year alone.
But the basic pay for Chinese workers is as little as s5 a day. Staff claim they are publicly humiliated if they complain or break strict company rules. Some are even made to clean toilets as punishment.
They are banned from talking at work, have to stand up for their entire 12-hour shifts and are made to do military marching drills. Half a million Chinese many of them teenagers and even kids work at the factories. They sleep in high-rise dormitory blocks where hair-driers and kettles are outlawed.
One man who broke the rule had to write in a letter: It is my fault. I will never blow my hair inside my room. I have done something wrong. I will never do it again. Most of the suicides have involved staff leaping off the dormitory blocks. Bosses have now rigged up nets on all the balconies to stop jumpers.
Apples own inspectors found fewer than a third of factories obeyed overtime rules. They also found 91 children working worldwide last year. A probe into the suicides by two international watchdogs uncovered the no-suicide pledge staff had to sign and the shocking extent of compulsory overtime.
The Centre for Research on Multinational Companies and the human rights group SACOM (Students Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour) both accuse Apples contractors of treating workers like machines. SACOM official Leontien Aarnoudse said: They work excessive overtime for a salary they can hardly live on and are inhumanely treated. Conditions are harsh and they don't have a social life. Their life is just working in a factory and that is it.
Investigators said Fox- conn reacted to the wave of suicides by calling in monks to exorcise evil spirits.
Production of iPhones and iPads in Chengdu and Shenzhen is round-the-clock with staff working up to 12 hours a day, six days a week. On top of the basic week workers are made to do 12 hours overtime and some staff work as many as 72 hours a week way over Chinas legal limit. Yet Apples code of conduct for suppliers says: Except in emergency or unusual situations, a work-week shall be restricted to 60 hours, including overtime.
All overtime shall be voluntary. Under no circumstances shall work-weeks exceed the maximum permitted under applicable laws and regulations. But one worker told the watchdogs demand for the first iPad was so intense staff often had to put in seven-day weeks.
Foxconn boss Louis Woo confirmed workers had to do excessive overtime but insisted the suicides were unrelated. He said: There was a copy effect if one commits suicide, others will follow. Apple insisted it was committed to the highest standards of social responsibility.
Link To Story
