Foxconn Holds Anti-Suicide Rally for Employees

Yeah, take pictures of your male employees wearing pink "I

i see some hawt azn's

The forum ate my post. I was trying to say that maybe taking pictures of their male employees wearing pink "I 'heart' Foxconn" shirts, and then sending the pics to the media, might not be the best strategy at suicide prevention.

In all seriousness tho, as much of a callous jerk as I am, I hope that the improved working conditions have reduced the suicide rates. The poor folks just want to work, and have limited means to do so outside of these factories.

I doubt they all

This is only a single rung above the old, "The beatings will continue until morale improves."

That guy on the left looks like he's ready to jump for wearing pink shirt.

they don't look so happy... maybe they are trying to send us a message... like... save us... or something... i donno

Superhero costumes? I believe I can fly........splat

yeah the guy on the left says it all!

How the world turns! Back in Mao's day, suicides were all but encouraged.

"With these new Foxconn T-shirts, you can show your heart on the outside for everyone to see... along with various other body parts strewn across the pavement."

Your comments are hilarious... +0001 to all

yeah i was thinking the same thing. that guys sure looks happy. maybe pink just isnt his color?

I think Foxconn should hire more exorcists, or better ones, if they got through the net and died, I think a demon is pushing them. >=D

Someone replaced a few random nets with razor wire.

Oh Boy, tomorrow we will hear of the next Foxconn victim. All the people in the photo look like they just came from a high school gym class(young and sweaty).

I sure hope all these comments, (and indeed the post itself - i'm talking to you Jane), are just a big joke.
Suicide rates at Foxconn are 1/7th of the national average.
They are obviously doing something right.

Sure, a dozen people have killed themselves, but we are not talking a office with a hundred people, we are talking about a company with more people in a single factory than live in the entire City of Detroit.

How many people in Detroit commited suicide last year? If they follow the national average of the USA it will be just over 100 people. So dont rag on Foxconn when you clearly dont have your own house in order, they are doing much better than the rest of us and stats show that it isn't even a cultural thing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_ [...] icide_rate

China as a whole has a higher suicide rate of 13.9 per 100,000 compared to the USA of 11.1 per 100,000.
If the rate of suicides stays constant for the rest of the year there will be approx 18 out of 920,000
That's 1.9 per 100,000
That's 7.3 times less than China as a whole and 5.8 times less than the USA
Comparing Foxconn suicide rates as if they were another nation they would be amongst the lowest in the world

Back to using Detroit as an example, 28 per 100,000 Policemen in Detroit kill themselves
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/ [...] ops_h.html
That's over 14 times more than Foxconn
So when is the Detroit PD going to hire monks, exorcists, counselors and put up nets?

There is no suicide problem at Foxconn, stop telling people there is

My heart goes out to these poor workers who toil day and night for this terrible corporation. This is modern slavery. The slaves aren't traded and sold as if they were stock like they were in the old days. But are given little choice but to chose their servitude or it is hunger.

Whose ass went to jail for that? UNACCEPTABLE

Well, THEY either choose to work for actually quite a good company, or to work for somebody else. If they go hungry, many situations it is their own fault, but i agree we should sympathize with those who it isnt their fault.

This rally is manditory..... those absent will get the axe

They should buy some cute cats and let them about in many locations in the plant to brighten up peoples days when they take a break.

Oh wait, this is China. Maybe another animal they don't eat. I just can't think of any.

920000 employees! wow, no wonder each one feels so insignificant. Typical manager-employee dialogue would go like this: "Ok, employee #689312, what do you do here at Foxconn?" "I'm the one pasting the QC OK sticker on the motherboards. So many of them. What does QC OK mean anyway?"

First time i heard employer is holding a rally against it's employee.

maybe they should start putting xanax in the water

Pink shirts, that's a real morale booster.

Understood, but don't you think that the similarities among the suicide victims could be indicative of something more?

According to a May 2010 article in the London Telegraph, all those who committed suicide were under the age of 25, all used the same method, and all had been working for Foxconn for less than six months. At the time, Foxconn also said it had prevented a further 30 suicide attempts in the three weeks leading up to suicide number eight.

I see where you're coming from about average suicide rates per 100,000 but these don't seem like 'average' suicides.

This whole affair is similar to what went down at France Telecom not too long ago. 23 employees across France killed themselves, and a further 13 attempted to take their lives. Again, France Telecom tried to explain the numbers using national averages of suicides, but so many family and friends of the victims claimed the reason they had done it was because of stress at work, and blamed management at France Telecom for being awful to employees.

In short, no, I'm not joking. While the suicides per 100,000 are below the nation's average, I think 30 attempts in three weeks is not normal. If a company has to erect nets to stop people from jumping, there's a problem.

Jane, if we are going to include prevented attempts then compare those to the rest of the world, the USA and the Detroit PD.
300,000 people a year in the USA attempt suicide and are prevented or survive, that's 100 per 100,000
30 in 3 weeks would be approx 520 per year if the rate was constant and thats approx 56 per 100,000, half the USA again

Correlation between attempts and successes still dont add up to anything fishy, overall it is still less likely you will attempt or be successful

By the way, quoting Wiki here

It isn't the same as France Telecom was higher than the national trend, Foxconns is much, much lower

Wow out of all the pictures they could have showed/taken they use this one. Picture tells it all, these people are absolutely miserable. I mean if this is the best picture you can find of foxconn employees then no wonder. The guy on the left looks like hes thinking about jumping off a building right now.

And instead of spending money to get people to come chear them up. How about you give them paid lunches and paid breaks And a pay increase. Instead of trying to make yourself (foxconn) look good.

oh man, they sure seem happy as hell in that picture. poor chinese folks..I sympathize to all the hard workers over there. they do not work to live..they live to work, and have no choice.