beyondbrics

When Foxconn was hit by a string of suicides among its workers earlier this year, the company’s first reaction was to try and wait for the trouble to just go away.

Not anymore. Wednesday afternoon, the once so media-shy company – which makes a major portion of the world’ s iPhones and other electronics gadgets – put itself in the limelight with a nationwide rally for its 800,000 workers.

Under the motto “Treasure your life, love your family, care for each other to build a wonderful future”, employees assembled on the sports fields of a dozen different Foxconn factories.

They listened to speeches by labour union representatives, swore an oath on treasuring their lives, watched dance and music performances, and shared the experience with live broadcasts from other Foxconn campuses.

The company, China’s largest manufacturing employer, has been on a steep learning curve over the past six months.

More than a dozen of its workers committed or attempted suicide this year, most following severe personal stress. A feeling prevailed that there was nowhere to turn to for help.

At the same time, Chinese workers in general, long frustrated with an anonymous existence working long hours under tight discipline for low pay, have started to speak up.

Foxconn reacted by tweaking some details in managing its workforce, then by announcing hefty pay rises, and finally changing its business model. It put an end to the practice of total responsibility over workers’ lives by outsourcing dorms (pictured) to local governments, and it started moving inland to cheaper locations, nearer home for many of its employees.

But all these measures were aimed at halting the suicides and keeping the business viable. The company was still seen to be ignoring the workers themselves.

The rally is an attempt to change that. “They are the real protagonists, they are the huge majority,” said a Foxconn executive.

In Taiwan, the group’s home, mass motivational events for employees – like family outings or sports days – are very common at technology companies.

Labour activists frown at what they see as a sideshow. Through the event, they argue, Foxconn is just applying its expertise in mass manufacturing to mass man management. It does little to really connect with employees and their concerns, they say.

But then, this is China. Even if Foxconn was happy for its workers to organise themselves to voice their concerns, that is by no means on the government’s agenda.

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