Foxconn, Apple-linked manufacturer reports another worker suicide
Foxconn worker jumps to his death at the company’s Chengdu plant. This is the first suicide since the Apple manufacturer made reforms to improve working conditions for its 1.2 million employees.
A Foxconn employee commited suicide Wednesday – the first since the company said it was improving work conditions after a spate of similar incidents two years ago.
The 23-year-old man, surnamed Xie, jumped from his 18th floor apartment near the manufacturing plant in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu in Sichuan province.
The cause of the incident is still under investigation.
According to Reuters, the young man's death is the first since an agreement last March to improve the working conditions of its 1.2 million employees who make iPhones, iPads and other electronics.
Read more on GlobalPost: Wage hikes are good news for Foxconn workers, right?
Foxconn agreed to hire more workers to reduce overtime and improve safety and living conditions.
Fox News reported that at least 16 workers have killed themselves since 2010 in Foxconn's Shenzen factory.
The Chinese state news agency, Xinhua, said of the most recent death that the man fell from his apartment but that there was still no word on the cause.
CNet reported that the Chengdu factory has recently been in turmoil after about 1,000 Foxconn workers rioted outside of their off-site dormitory during an altercation in the cafeteria.
Read GlobalPost's ongoing investigation into the labor conditions at Foxconn.