14 DAY TRIAL // An anti-government website in China has revealed that 300 workers at a Foxconn factory (Foxconn Technology Park in Wuhan) threatened to commit mass suicide by jumping from the top of a factory.
300 workers reportedly threatened to jump to their demise from the rooftops of a Foxconn plant on January 2nd. Only now is the news being spread.
The workers had initially claimed that Foxconn had not granted them the promised compensation for their hard work. So they were given an ultimatum: stay and work with no raise, or leave with some compensation.
After the failed negotiations, part of the group remained with no raise, while others (most) decided to leave. The problem was they didn’t get any of the promised compensation either.
This is when the mass suicide threat came in and caused a factory wide shutdown, according to the Atlantic Wire interpreting a report from Record China.
Apple is a primary partner of Foxconn, whose factories have been labeled as sweatshops over the harsh conditions imposed by their managers.
Numerous Foxconn employees working on iPod assembly lines have committed suicide in the past two years, casting a bad light on the practices enforced by Chinese magnate, Terry Gou (Foxconn CEO).
Microsoft is also a partner of Foxconn, whose workers handle the assembly of the Xbox 360 video gaming console.
Following the incident, the Windows maker offered the following statement to Kotaku:
“Foxconn has been an important partner of ours and remains an important partner. I trust them as a responsible company to continue to evolve their process and work relationships. That is something we remain committed to—the safe and ethical treatment of people who build our products. That's a core value of our company.”