Apple supplier Foxconn, battered by a spate of worker suicides this year, is trying a new approach to prevent more deaths after some 3 million square metres of safety netting in its mainland plants failed to deter a young female worker, who leapt to her death in Jiangsu .
The world's largest electronics contract manufacturer confirmed to the South China Morning Post yesterday that rallies of more than 800,000 employees to send out anti-suicide messages will take place today at all Foxconn's mainland plants.
A spokesman for Hon Hai, Foxconn's Taiwan-based parent company, was quoted by Taiwan's Central News Agency yesterday as saying that Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou would speak at the rally at the Shenzhen plant, whose theme is 'Treasure Your Life, Love Your Family and Care for Each Other to Build a Wonderful Future'. The speech will be broadcast to all of its facilities.
'[The rally is] to promote a positive outlook and approach towards life, as well as unity among employees of Foxconn and to extend moral support and resources to help employees deal with personal and work challenges,' said public relations company Burson-Marsteller, which represents the appliance giant. 'Foxconn ... [will] send an important message to employees that they are not alone, and that [the company is] there to support and to help them through their challenges.'
The manufacturing giant hopes workers' good mental health can serve as an invisible but impregnable safety net to stop more workers killing themselves after 14 suicide attempts in its plants in Shenzhen and Foshan in Guangdong and Kunshan in Jiangsu. Twelve of those involved died.
Foxconn spent 180 million yuan (HK$205 million) to put up security nets outside dormitories in May, but a 22-year-old worker jumped from her Kunshan dormitory into the net early this month and died in hospital. She had worked there for only four months.