Apple factories forcing Chinese to sign 'no-suicide' pledges

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Thomas Kurien

04 May, 2011

Worried about suicides and resulting compensation claims, Apple, the manufacturer of high-end products such as iPhone and iPad, is forcing workers in its Chinese factories to sign a 'no-suicide' pledge, which includes only minimum legal compensation.

RESEARCH AND investigation by Centre for Research on Multinational Companies (CRMC) and Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (Sacom) has revealed that factory personnel in China's Apple iPad and iPhone factories are being forcefully made to put their signatures on written pledges that they will not try to kill themselves.

Both Centre for Research on Multinational Companies (CRMC) and Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (Sacom) investigated over 500,000 workers in various factories in China and found that workers are working in horrific conditions.

The investigation began after a number of suicides were reported in 2010. Alarmed at the spurt in suicides, the management at Foxconn factories, who assemble Apple products, asked new workers to sign a 'no suicide' pledge.

Compensation resulting from a suicide is another reason why factories are enforcing the signed pledge. According to Daily Mail company officials at Foxconn factories are concerned about the fact that Chinese workers commit suicide to get higher compensation payments for their families. Therefore, factory personnel are being made to promise that if they committed suicide they will only demand for the legal minimum as compensation.

The factories, instead of ensuring better working conditions or expanding factories are putting pressure on their workers to work without breaks and work extra hours to cater to the explosive demand for Apple iPhone and iPad products.

These are so much in demand in China that Apple assembly factories are finding it hard to supply these products – resulting in forcing workers to work inhumanely to keep output high.

According to a Sacom official, “Workers are asked to work overtime to meet increasing demands of the products. They work excessive overtime for a salary they can hardly live on and are inhumanely treated," reported Daily Mail. Moreover, working conditions are very challenging and workers don’t have a social life.

There have also been sightings of Chinese people and individuals protesting against cases of suicides resulting from overwork or inhuman conditions. Recently, a Chinese citizen Ma Zishan was seen crying while holding a portrait of Ma Xiangqian, his son, outside a Foxconn factory.