Protesters call for iPhone boycott over factory conditions

Posted in iPhone News by admin. Published May 26th, 2010

Protesters call for iPhone boycott over factory conditions

A workers’ group in Hong Kong is calling for a global boycott of the next iPhone following a spate of suicides in Foxconn factories, where workers make components for Apple and other electronics manufacturers.

According to Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (Sacom), a startling ten Foxconn employees in Shenzhen have tried to commit suicide since the beginning of the year. Eight died and the group cites poor working and living conditions as the reason for the suicide attempts.

After staging a small protest outside the Foxconn office in Hong Kong, the group told PC Pro it was calling for improved working conditions for workers in Foxconn factories.

“We’re staging the protest because of the high death rate due to some workers committing suicide within five months, which we think is abnormal,” Sacom spokesperson Debby Chan said. “Foxcoon supplies a lot of manufacturers, including Dell, HP and Nokia, but Apple is particularly not transparent in how it treats workers.

“Foxconn should evaluate its management style… We strongly urge Foxconn to start a committee to look into the reasons they died.”

Foxconn has publicly denied mistreating workers.

Four years ago, Apple conducted an audit of Foxconn factories supplying it with components following allegations of poor working and living conditions. The audit found the plants largely complied with the Apple Supplier Code of Conduct.

Apple was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.

[Thanks: http://www.pcpro.co.uk]