A WORKER died in an apparent suicide on Friday at a plant in China run by Taiwan's Foxconn, which makes goods for Apple, Sony and Nokia, state press said - the 11th such death this year at the factory.
The worker died after falling from a building at Foxconn's massive complex in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, Xinhua news agency said. No details about the victim were released.
Telephone operators at the plant refused to connect AFP to factory managers for comment about the death, which resembled 10 suicides this year at the facility, which employs an estimated 400,000 people.
At least 13 employees of Foxconn - the world's largest maker of computer components - have died in similar circumstances this year, according to the official Global Times. Labour rights activists have blamed the suicides at Foxconn on tough working conditions in its factories, highlighting the difficulties faced by millions of factory workers across the country.
Following the spate of suicides, Foxconn raised wages by nearly 70 per cent at its China plants earlier this year. But in a recent survey, researchers questioned 1,736 Foxconn workers at plants in nine cities and found they worked an average of 83.2 hours overtime a month, more than twice the maximum 36 hours allowed under Chinese law, the China Business News said last month.
Workers also claimed Foxconn skimped on overtime payments, forced student interns to work more than the statutory eight hours a day and provided inadequate medical check-ups for employees exposed to poisonous and harmful substances, the report said. Foxconn refuted the accusations and said it was working to improve the conditions for its workers.
From Straits Times, "11th Foxconn worker dies".
