But the spate of apparent suicides has led to a firestorm of criticism against Foxconn by labor groups. US-based China Labor Watch has criticized Foxconn’s “military-style administration and harsh working conditions,” calling on the company to “initiate a thoroughgoing analysis of life on its production lines,” according to media reports.
Additionally, more than 30 labor activists from the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions gathered Wednesday at a local Foxconn office.
They held up paper cutouts of people and asked the company to improve its management, said Chan Chiuwai, a protester at the site.
“Military-style discipline on the workforce has created unbearable pressure among workers. We are urging the contractor to improve working con-ditions and relations between managers and workers, as well as among workers,” he said.
Xinhua reported Wednesday that multiple investigations carried out by local authorities have ruled out a direct connection between the employees’ deaths and Foxconn’s management techniques.
The company started playing music on its assembly line this month to relieve some of the workers’ stress, and it is also recruiting more than 2,000 singers, dancers and gym trainers, and a number of psychiatrists. It also even installed three-meter-tall fences around dormitory buildings to stop employees from jumping.
In addition to the counselors, Foxconn even went as far as to invite monks from Wutai Mountain to dispel misfortune among its employees.
Foxconn is part of Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, the world’s largest maker of consumer electronics for companies that include Apple, Nokia and Sony.
Fan Fumin, a professor of psychology at Tsinghua University, argued in an interview with China Central Television that the suicide rate among Foxconn employees, which has climbed to about two or three per 100,000, is not that high compared with the latest data released by the World Health Organization, that says the average suicide rate in China is 13 per 100,000 men and 14.8 per 100,000 women.
Yu Guoliang, a professor of social psychology at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times that the spate of suicides was triggered by imitation.
“Youngsters are easily affected by others and take extreme actions when they live in an enclosed environment and lack communication with different people,” Yu said.
“China is undergoing a huge societal transformation. Some of its people can easily get lost given such a fast pace of development,” Yu said. “Once their expectations, and sometimes illusions, can’t be satisfied, they are very prone to abnormal mental states.”
You can find them in different colours,louis vuitton replica handbags size and even in vivid designs. There are many companies manufacturing different varieties of shoes and Christian laoboutin sandals are one among them. This is in fact a branded company wherein you need to give out lots of money to get hold of the shoes as per your choice. It is true that with the increasing height of the heels the cost of the shoes is also increasing with the passage of time.replica prada handbags If you are a person who is really crazy about buying shoes very often then you can keep on selecting your high heels depending on the dress you are planning to use. You can thereby have a very huge collection of different varieties of high heels.replica jimmy choo handbags