Foxconn Worker Jumps From Apartment, Ends Suicide Lull

Another Foxconn employee decided to take his own life, the latest being a 23-year-old who jumped off his company-rented apartment outside of a plant in Chengdu where he worked prior to this death, Reuters reports. Foxconn, which manufactures iPhones, iPads, and tech devices for a number of high profile companies like Apple and Dell, suffered a black eye over working conditions in 2010 when a rash of employee suicides garnered media attention. The suicides continued to mount through part of 2011, though it's been relatively quiet recently following an agreement Foxconn reached with Apple earlier this year to improve conditions.

Foxconn vowed to hired thousands to workers to ease the burden of overtime hours, and also said it would put in place various safety measures and improve housing. All this, along with higher wages, came about after an investigation by the independent Fair Labor Association, Reuters says.


Over a million people work at Foxconn, otherwise known as Hon Hai Precision. The less than ideal working conditions and employee suicides have cast a cloud over the obsession with hot tech gear and the amount of people power required to meet demand. It's also led to Foxconn employees using the threat of suicide as a bargaining chip, such was the case when more than 300 workers stood on a building ready to jump due to a dispute over promised compensation.