Shanghai: Ah Wei has an explanation for Foxconn Technology Group Chairman Terry Gou why some of his workers are committing suicide at the company's factory near the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
"Life is meaningless," said Ah Wei after burnishing hundreds of mobile phones during his 12-hour overnight shift.
"Everyday, I repeat the same thing I did Wednesday. We get yelled at all the time. It's very tough around here."
Ah Wei said conversation on the production line was forbidden, bathroom breaks were to be kept to 10 minutes every two hours, and constant noise from the factory seeped through his ear plugs, damaging his hearing.
The 21-year-old worker, who asked that his name be withheld, said the company had rejected his three requests for a transfer and his monthly salary of 900 yuan (Dh484) was too meagre to send money home to his family.
At least 10 employees at Foxconn in Taipei have taken their lives this year, the company said. The deaths have forced billionaire founder Gou to open his factories to scrutiny and apologise. Gou's clients including Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Dell are questioning the company's working conditions.
Foxconn's Longhua complex outside Shenzhen spans three square kilometres.
The workers, 86 per cent of whom are under 25, sleep in rooms with eight to 10 people.
About 80 per cent of the front-line production employees work standing up, some for 12 hours a day for six days a week, employee Liu Bin, aged 24, said.
Supervisor Geng Yubin said between 30 and 50 workers came to him daily for advice on personal problems such as homesickness and financial woes.
Foxconn's working conditions are among the best in China, said Huang Ping-der, an Associate Professor of Business Administration at Taipei's National Chengchi University.
The suicides in China had highlighted weaknesses in the company's management structure, he said.
China had a suicide rate of 16.9 people out of 100,000 taking their own lives in 2004, a the World Health Organisation estimated.
Foxconn raised pay for workers by 30 per cent to 1,200 yuan from 900 yuan a month, spokesman Ding said yesterday. However Xiao Qi, a college graduate who works at Foxconn, said it may not be enough to stem the suicides.
