Suicide as Protest for the New Generation of Chinese Migrant Workers: Foxconn, Global Capital, and the State

Abstract

A startling 13 young workers attempted or committed suicide at the two Foxconn production facilities in southern China between January and May 2010. We can interpret their acts as protest against a global labor regime that is widely practiced in China. Their defiant deaths demand that society reflect upon the costs of a state-promoted development model that sacrifices dignity for corporate profit in the name of economic growth.

Chinese migrant labor conditions as articulated by the state, are shaped by these intertwined forces: First, leading international brands have adopted unethical purchasing practices, resulting in substandard conditions in their global electronics supply chains. Second, management has used abusive and illegal methods to raise worker efficiency, generating widespread grievances and resistance at the workplace level. Third, local Chinese officials in collusion with enterprise management, systematically neglect workers’ rights, resulting in widespread misery and deepened social inequalities. The Foxconn human tragedy raises profound concerns about the working lives of the new generation of Chinese migrant workers. It also challenges the state-driven policy based on the use of internal rural migrant workers, whose labor and citizenship rights have been violated.

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Mark Selden, Chris Smith, Dimitri Kessler, Boy Luthje, Ellen David Friedman, Diana Beaumont, John Sexton, Amanda Bell, Garrett Brown, Chantal Peyer, Pauline Overeem, Jeffrey Ballinger, and activists from SACOM. We thank deeply the many scholars and union organizers around the world who contribute to improve labor conditions at Foxconn and other workplaces.

ActNOW!

Add your name to the signature campaign titled “Appeal by Concerned International Scholars: Create Humane Labor Standards at Foxconn and End ‘Stealth Manufacturing’ in Information Technology!” Open statement and up-to-date 114 signatories are posted at SACOM website: English and Chinese. Please email your name and affiliation to sacom@sacom.hk. Your support is most needed for improving labor conditions (campaign launched on 8 June 2010, active for six months through 7 December 2010).

Jenny Chan and Ngai Pun

The Asia-Pacific Journal (Sep 2010)
http://japanfocus.org/-Jenny-Chan/3408