Industrial Workers of the World

Rotten apples

As many of you will be aware, the Apple iPad had it world-wide launch this weekend. What you may not know is that the factory which produces it, in China, has been the scene of a dozen worker suicides in recent months. We've been asked by unions and NGOs in Hong Kong and Taiwan to launch a big international campaign to put pressure on the factory owners -- and on Apple -- to probe why this is happening, and to allow workers there to have real, independent unions that can bargain collectively.

Please take a moment to send off your message now:

www.labourstart.org/foxconn

It's been dubbed the "suicide express" by Chinese media. Twelve workers, all between 18 and 24 years old, have committed suicide, at the production facilities of Foxconn Technology Group, a Taiwan-owned enterprise based in Shenzhen, southern China.

Foxconn is a key supplier to various leading brands including Apple. International brands constantly drive down prices and demand shorter delivery time when placing orders. To secure contracts, Foxconn minimizes its cost to remain competitive, and transfers the pressure of the increasingly low profit margin to the frontline workers. Workers inevitably suffer as a result.

Analyzing this vicious cycle of exploitation, we must realize that while Foxconn holds primary responsibility in exploiting the workers, global brands like Apple are just as much to blame for this race to the bottom game.

The Taiwanese billionaire owner has blamed the suicides on China's social problems and refused to accept that excessive overtime or Foxconn's disciplinarian management style had anything to do with the issue. Foxconn has brought in psychiatrists and Buddhist monks, but has refused to change any of the working conditions as being at the core of the problem.

Nine mainland Chinese and Hong Kong academics have issued an open statement calling on Foxconn and the government to do justice for the younger generation of migrant workers and unions and NGOs have organized protests in support of Foxconn workers in Hong Kong and Taiwan.