LATEST SUICIDE RAISES CONCERN OVER CHINESE FACTORY LIFE

ABUSIVE FOXCONN EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES
ARE INVESTIGATED AFTER 10th SUICIDE THIS YEAR

PEKIN (News Asia-Pacific) - A spate of suicides by employees of an electronics giant in China has fuelled concern about the pressures of factory life and the emotional vulnerability of young employees. Taiwanese-owned Foxconn is one of the world's largest contract electronics manufacturers and is thought to supply Apple, Dell and Hewlett-Packard among others. The company makes products like the Mac mini, the iPod, the iPad, and the iPhone for Apple and motherboards for Intel and Zoostorm. Police confirmed that a young man with knife wounds had fallen from a building at one of the firm's plants in Shenzhen, China, on Friday. Another employee died after falling from a building earlier last week, but police have yet to confirm the cause of her death, but experts say that overcrowding and long hours adding to workplace stress, are the reasons. Foxconn has expressed sorrow over the ten deaths, all involving workers aged between 18 and 24, and two suicide attempts.

The company blamed personal issues such as romantic troubles, family problems and loneliness, but has called in experts for advice on preventing further deaths. While stressing that the causes of each death would be complex, he added: "These young workers have to work 10 or 11 hours a day and are under extreme pressure to produce products under very intensive conditions. Once they get off production line they live in cramped dormitories, often with strangers, and they are getting insufficient days off. They're away from their families and other support networks. It can be difficult for them. This is not just Foxconn; this is the way the vast majority of factories operate across China." Foxconn's rival “Huawei”, also saw several suicides between 2006 and 2008; in this company, six employees reportedly killed themselves. Suicide clusters, often involving young people, have occurred in many countries.


The recurrence of such sorry incidents throws a spotlight on the companies' tough labour practices, especially during peak production times. Deplorable working conditions in any production-line assembly, cause depression and emotional problems, leading young workers to commit suicide. We need to develop taste for the devotional service of the Lord.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

At the present moment human society is overly influenced by the mode of passion, and consequently people are engaged in working in big factories. They forget how distressful it is to live in such places. In Bhagavad-gītā such activities are described as “ugra-karma”, that is, distressful activities. Those who utilize the energies of the worker are called capitalists, and those who actually perform the work are called laborers. In actuality they are both capitalists, and the workers are in the modes of passion and ignorance. The result is that there is always a distressful situation.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam”
Purport in Canto 4 - Chapter 29 - Verse 28.