Updates to this story
As some rather rotund Apple fanboys were spending huge amounts on their iPads over Easter, the place which makes them in China is having a problem with suicides.
Foxconn's plant, which has a problem with child labour and a habit of beating up reporters has had a spate of mysterious deaths lately. Apparently there is something at Foxconn which makes its workers want to top themselves.
According to Business Insider four Foxconn employees have tried to kill themselves in the last month just when they should be rejoicing at the fact that they have been making the game changing iPad.
An 18-year-old female worker at Foxconn jumped from one of the factory building after working at the Longhua plant for a month. On March 29, a 23-year-old man, named Liu, jumped out of a dormitory window at the Longhua plant at 3am, dressed only in his factory shirt and underwear.
On March 11, at 9.30pm, a worker in his twenties, named Li, jumped to his death, again at the Longhua plant. Apparently it was because his Christmas bonus was stolen.
On March 7, a female employee named Tian jumped from her dormitory building and injured herself. She said that she was under "a great deal of pressure" although it was not clear from what. To be fair Apple has been a good influence on Foxconn.
It has ordered the managers to let staff working on Apple gear to sit down once in a while. They still have to work, but they are allowed to sit. The company also wrote a strongly worded letter when it discovered that underaged workers were used at the plant.
Western firms have had problems in the past when educated lefty customers get miffed about products being made in bad conditions. Apple has never had any problem with that - its fanboys would buy Apple gear if was made from human body parts if Steve Jobs said it OK.
Boy, isn't that the truth!
The fact is, the author of this contemptible bit of hypocrisy would buy almost anything made from human body parts, because he doesn't really give a shit about working conditions in Chinese factories unless it plays into Apple bashing.
Moleskin, shorely.
If you lived in Deathconn city, you'd probably jump too.
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20060623_1.htm
First, he starts with his totally unwarranted, fact-free, juvenile attacks on users of Apple products ("rotund, spending huge amounts"). Then, he launches into an even more mindless attack on Apple's business practices.
Since you're apparently incapable of discerning the facts, Nick, let's lay them out:
1. Lots of companies use Foxconn - including brands that you routinely praise.
2. Apple is the one who discovered the underage workers - and put a stop to it.
3. Foxconn and other suppliers publicly stated that Apple was the only U.S. company to audit them in any real way. Apple put a stop to a number of practices that other companies simply ignored.
So, instead of your accusations that Apple is causing suicides, why don't you publish the REAL facts - that Apple is the only multinational doing anything to try to improve working conditions at Foxconn?
Obviously, because that wouldn't feed your incessant hatred of Apple.