Apple, HP, Dell team to investigate Foxconn suicides

By Nick Spence | May 28, 2010

Apple, HP and Dell will team up to launch an investigation into working practices at manufacturer Hon Hai Group, better known as Foxconn Technology, following another suicide at the Shenzhen plant, which manufactures the iPhone.

 

The world's largest electronics contract manufacturer builds gadgets for a number of big name brands including Apple, HP, Dell, Nokia and Sony. Apple will head up the Foxconn investigation, supported by HP and Dell.

 

A Foxconn employee fell to his death on Tuesday morning, the eleventh such incident this year, nine of which sadly proved fatal. While Terry Gou, chairman of Foxconn's Taiwanese parent company Hon Hai Precision, has denied the company was at fault, labour activists in nearby Hong Kong have called for a boycott of the next generation of Apple's iPhone, which could be unveiled as early as next month at the annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference.

 

Apple issued a statement on Wednesday following press coverage of the latest Shenzhen plant suicide, the first direct public acknowledgment of the suicides from the iPhone manufacture the Wall Street Journal notes. "We are saddened and upset by the recent suicides at Foxconn. Apple is deeply committed to ensuring that conditions throughout our supply chain are safe and workers are treated with respect and dignity," Apple said.

 

"We are in direct contact with Foxconn senior management and we believe they are taking this matter very seriously," Apple added. Foxconn employs more than 800,000 workers in China, more than half of which work at the giant Shenzhen plant.

 

Macworld UK