Foxconn Suicides Finally Make Mainstream World News Headlines
Dressed in white, the traditional color of mourning in China, the father of 19-year-old Ma Xiangqian weeps outside the gates of a sprawling electronics complex. His wife and daughter kneel alongside. Ma is one of nine workers who have died in apparent suicides at tightly guarded factory complexes this year, raising questions about the harsher aspects of blue-collar life around southern China’s Pearl River Delta — dubbed the workshop to the world. The parents say Ma, who was found dead at the bottom of a stairway at the campus in January, died under mysterious circumstances. They want to know why.
The Longhua factory belongs to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, the Taiwan giant that is contracted to make computers, game consoles, handphones and other electronics gadgets for Apple Inc and many major global brands. Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou, one of Taiwan’s best known businessmen, on Wednesday led a rare media tour of the Chinese complex, part of an unprecedented publicity blitz to counter a growing backlash over the suspected suicides. The stakes are high for Hon Hai and its Foxconn unit that makes mobile phones for Nokia and other global names, amid growing calls from activists for a global boycott of products like Apple’s latest generation iPhone. Hon Hai’s client list reads like a Who’s Who of electronics makers — from Apple, Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell and global mobile makers.
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