Apple contractor pays suicide's family $44,000
FOXCONN HAS PAID $44,000 to the family of a Chinese factory worker who apparently committed suicide after being interrogated by one of the Apple contractor's employees.
Sun Danyong's girlfriend has been given an Apple Mac as compensation for her lost bloke who flung himself off a building following Foxconn's questioning.
Part of the deal appears to be that Foxconn can continue to blame Sun for the loss of an Iphone prototype.
Foxconn's general manager of China operations, James Lee, defended the company's working conditions and continued to attack Sun's credibility.
"Several times he had some products missing, then he got them back," Lee intimated. "We don't know who took the product, but it was at his stop."
Family and friends say Sun told them he was beaten and humiliated by his superiors while being interrogated over the missing phone, something that Foxconn has denied.
In an interview with the New York Times, Sun's brother, Sun Danxiong, 28, said Foxconn paid his family $44,000 compensation and gave Sun's girlfriend a free Apple laptop computer.
Foxconn has suspended one of its security staff members over the incident pending a police investigation.
The man, Gu Qinming, told Chinese media he did not beat Sun but only grabbed his right shoulder after becoming "a little angry".
Sun, a shy graduate who had finished university only a year earlier and worked in logistics at Foxconn, sent a distressed SMS to his girlfriend after he was questioned. He told her to go back home and said he ran into some problems. He asked her not to tell his family and not to contact him.
Later that night he apparently jumped from the 12th floor of an apartment building. Foxconn immediately called his death a suicide but Chinese authorities are still investigating.
Gu's personal details were published on the Internet by angry Chinese citizens, and he now claims he is unable to return to his home.
The incident is continuing to put pressure on Apple which has agreed to force its contractors in China to treat their staff like human beings. It has had some success with Foxconn. Apparently staff on the Apple production line are allowed to sit down.
But China Labour Watch lambasted Foxconn's "inhumane and militant management system, which lacks fundamental respect for workers' rights".
It said the company has "serious labour violations including excessive working hours, unpaid wages for up to 30 minutes of work each day, compulsory overtime and extremely poor dormitory conditions".
The group said Sun's death was not the first suicide at a Foxconn factory and that other workers have reported being beaten with "iron bars and whips".
Apple investigated Foxconn after stories alleging inhumane treatment of workers found their way into the Western press. In the end it seemed that only superficial changes were made and the report was widely seen as a whitewash.
The question remains how long a company that trades on its cool liberal image can be associated with a supplier where incidents like the death of Sun happen.
Will it only be a matter of time before Steve Jobs is faced with protesters when he appears on the stage to push his too-cool "Made in China" toys? µ
Share this:
ShareBusiness Intelligence Software
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Enterprise Accounting Software
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Enterprise Systems Management
Yes... $44k and a laptop Im sure the laptop helps her get over his death... I would go as far to say she is over it already
Maybe they shoot you in the back of the head like the soviets did here take a walk down this hallway......
sad to still hear about stuff like this. maybe I should go to a apple store and ask one of the brain washed employees about this. I will never buy another foxconn or apple product ever again. peace out sun
I recently bought a FoxConn mobo for a PC build. Won't be buying any more.
I hope they suffer some sales losses, but I doubt it will happen. Few people will even read this bit of news, and even fewer would refuse to buy FoxConn products afterwards.
No more products from FoxConn for me EVER...
This incident was wholly enacted within FoxConn and had nothing to do with Apple. The only link between the two companies is that Apple was purchasing parts from FoxConn. As much as I dislike Apple's hardware and ethos, I highly doubt a shred of blame can be laid at their feet for this one.
Foxconn will be linked to this "suicide" for a long time coming.
People make poor decisions sometimes that cost them dearly.
Sure Sun jumped out the window. The KKK and Hon Hai / Foxconn have a lot in common. The KKK would say that the brother jumped into the river trying to carry more chains than he could swim with or that the 29 bullet holes in his body only note the worst case of suicide in history. The KKK wasn't guilty. Foxconn isn't guilty. Foxconn is notorious for buying 30% interest in design firms in the US to go around NDA laws giving their design firms a more competitive advantage and also allowing them to look under the Kimono of the competition.
If Foxconn isn't run by a Communist Ditatorship with die hard communists still running the business.. I'll eat my shorts.
Is that for real or just a cockamanie story?
I think the truth is one of those murder-mystery twists: one of these Inquirer "reporters" was getting the dirt on a new iPhone G4, and the kid couldn't supply the goods cuz of his mean boss, so the Inq writer killed him in a fit of rage and then wrote it into a mystery story! It is ruddy-red with irony.
Look, the Inq has blood red header. But seriously, who else is corroborating this story? Why should I think that the Inq cannot make up this whole zany fable? Like, show me a picture of the Mac and the girl using it.
Here's the last Chinese worker "killed by iPhone" (actually by Inq writer):
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1050814/exploding-mobile-kills-chinese
When will the Inq killings stop??
No Reality Check, we're not.
I've had a bad impression of Foxconn for years. Their attitude towards customers and workers alike is just pure contempt.
Bad mouthing customers that want an explanation as to why their hardware has a soft lock on what software they are compatible with is definitely not good practice.
The fact that they got away with it for so long just made them even more brazen in their conduct.
Sidewalk pizza.
I will never buy another foxconn or apple product ever again. peace out sun
posted by : domitian9
No more products from FoxConn for me EVER...
posted by : Macufendo
Seriously, how many product did Foxconn build under OEM brand? xBox 360, PS3, HP computer, Dell computer, Netgear switches, Linksys Wireless router, Cisco products, are you boycotting all these brand too?
If Foxconn isn't run by a Communist Ditatorship with die hard communists still running the business.. I'll eat my shorts.
Then prepare to eat your short, Foxconn is own by Taiwanese publicly listed company, although Foxconn is listed publicly in Hong Kong, full ownership and control is still over the management in Taiwan. Foxconn business is ran like any shrewd businessman, try to corner the market as you can without being a monopolist, squash competitor before they become a threat, lastly, its all business, nothing personal.
If there is a blog for people to post on Foxconn insider story, it surely will be big enough to create a multi-volume non-fiction novel, you haven't heard yet how the owner reprimand his senior staff and his employee, Steven Jobs attitude and rage when he was young will look like a school boys bully.
Spook is right -- you poor souls haven't a clue how many products carrying MNC/ OEM brand names are made by Foxconn and other Chinese contract manufacturers. If you think not buying Apple or Foxconn branded products is going to do much damage to Foxconn, think again. Most consumer Electronics OEM's will never disclose who their contract manufacturer is. It will just say "Made in China" on the label -- a more effective boycott would be to boycott anything made in China, which as we all know, is impossible to do, as everything under the sun is manufactured there. How about setting some realistic goals ? There's enough idealistic morons out there already....
ya after I wrote about boycotting foxconn I did a search on google to see how much oem work foxconn does. the arm of foxconn reaches far indeed. it would be very difficult to attempt a boycott of foxconn. I own a Xbox 360 and ps3 already whats next?
still though a SNAFU for sure on foxconn's part.
"This incident was wholly enacted within FoxConn and had nothing to do with Apple."
Quite right! The people up the top of the money chain should never have to suffer any indignity caused by the murder of some peasant worker. These people are simply fodder for the factory and the beautiful elite should remain untroubled.
I mean, he wasn't a CEO was he?
Revisiting on what I just wrote, the more you look into the vast business of Foxconn, the more you will understand that 80% of enterprise or consumer electronics goods came from Foxconn or Foxconn group of companies.
Hon Hai basically start as a connector company, it design and manufacture connector for PC use more than 15 years ago. Think how Molex or Amphenol own most of the connector business back in 70's and 80's.
Hon Hai grew into a big conglomerate after they start producing product for Cisco, along the way of grow, it acquire numerous companies, which include mobile phone supplier, wireless networking company, it even setup its own metal fab company to supply its own chassis for PC manufacturing.
Walk into any Best Buy store, chances are, 50% of the electronic items are made by Foxconn, look into Ingram Micro database, chances are 30% of the enterprise data communication gear was made by Foxconn.
all cables
ide
sata
floppy
all foxconn
go rip your PC to shreds
80% of computer cables in the world
more realistic goals?
try" Im not buying any foxconn branded products", graphicscards, motherboards etc
bangers
Oh, of course, I forgot that companies you don't like should suffer anyway. I mean, why not indict everyone else who buys OEM parts from FoxConn while we're at it.
But it's okay, so long as you're not in law enforcement, we can all live happily ever after.