【英语生活】富士康员工11连跳

Terry Gou, founder and chairman of Hon Hai, the Taiwanese parent company of Foxconn, rushed to Shenzhen on Tuesday, in an attempt to contain the growing fallout for the group from a continuing string of suicides among workers.

Mr Gou invited the media to a press conference on Wednesday at Foxconn’s Longhua plant and said he would help them better understand the situation.

The move came after another employee at the plant died after falling off a building on Tuesday morning.

Shenzhen police confirmed the death, but said they were still investigating whether it was suicide.

Nine people have died in the series of incidents among workers, while there have been two failed apparent suicide attempts.

Foxconn is the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, making devices for leading global electronics brands.

Labour activists in Hong Kong have threatened to start a campaign for a boycott of Apple’s iPhone, one of the many electronic devices made by the 300,000 workers at the Shenzhen plant at the legal minimum wage and with massive overtime.

However, psychiatrists say the suicides cannot be explained as a simple consequence of labour conditions at Foxconn.

“At least, here’s a company that’s doing something about it,” said Michael Phillips, director of the Suicide Research and Prevention Centre at Shanghai Mental Health Centre and a professor at Emory University School of Medicine.

He pointed to Foxconn’s moves to set up new counselling and early warning systems. He also said the suicides appeared to have a strong imitation factor.

But labour activists called for more decisive action from the company. “The wages of these workers should be raised to decent levels, so they won’t feel they need to rely on overtime,” said Geoffrey Crothall of China Labour Bulletin. “That would give them time to socialise, relax and work through whatever issues they have.”

Betty Chan of Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour said her group was in touch with labour activists in Europe over an international boycott campaign against the iPhone from next month.

鸿海集团(Hon Hai)创始人兼董事长郭台铭(Terry Gou)周二赶赴深圳，以求遏制因富士康(Foxconn)工人连续自杀对集团造成的日益严重的影响。鸿海是富士康的台湾母公司。

郭台铭邀请媒体周三出席在富士康龙华园区召开的新闻发布会，并表示他将帮助大家更好地了解有关情况。

在郭台铭采取上述举措之前，又有一名富士康工人在周二早上坠楼身亡。

深圳警方证实坠楼者已经死亡，但表示他们仍在调查这起坠楼是否属于自杀行为。

在富士康工人今年的一系列自杀事件中，已有9人死亡，另有两人明显试图自杀但最终身受重伤。

富士康是全球最大的合约电子制造商，为全球众多顶级电子品牌制造产品。

香港的劳工维权人士威胁要发起一项运动，抵制苹果公司(Apple)的iPhone。iPhone是深圳富士康30万名工人领取法定最低工资、并大量加班制造出的众多电子产品之一。

不过，精神病学家表示，不能将自杀原因简单归结为富士康的劳动条件。

上海市精神卫生中心心理危机干预中心研究室主任、埃默里大学医学院(Emory University School of Medicine)教授费立鹏(Michael Phillips)说：“至少，这家公司对此做了一些工作。”

他所指的，是富士康设立新的心理辅导与早期预警系统的举措。他还表示，这些自杀事件似乎存在很强的模仿因素。

但劳工维权人士呼吁富士康采取更果断的行动。 “这些工人的工资应提高到像样的水平，让他们感到无需依靠加班来赚钱，”中国劳工通讯(China Labour Bulletin)的杰弗里?克罗塞尔(Geoffrey Crothall)说，“这将让他们有时间进行社交、放松，并处理他们的个人问题。”

“大学师生监察无良企业行动”(SACOM)的Betty Chan表示，她们的组织正在和欧洲的劳工维权人士联络，拟于下月共同发起抵制iPhone的国际行动。

译者/功文