Foxconn Denies That Worker Tried To Commit Suicide During Protest

Foxconn is sadly no stranger to worker suicides and threats of such, which reached such an extreme a few years back that nets were installed to catch those who thrust themselves from the roof. Those nets didn't deter protesters who took to the roof on Friday, March 29, however, one of whom jumped, surviving but not without injury.

The report comes from Sina Weibo, which says that in addition to the worker who jumped, three other workers were also on the roof in protest, likewise threatening to jump. The folks over at CNET received a statement from Foxconn, which said that three workers did protest and were arrested by police without injury, denying that anyone was hurt or that the attempted suicide took place.

What were they protesting? Says Foxconn's statement: "We can confirm that on March 29, three employees at our campus in Longhua, Shenzhen were involved in a workplace dispute over the company's decision to offer them an opportunity to relocate to another Foxconn China facility as part of a shift in production linked to their business group." Further expounding on this, Weibo reports that some employees were encouraged to resign.

Foxconn, which has been accused of poor working conditions, has experienced various forms of this for years. In 2010, for example, an employee at the Shenzhen factory committed suicide for reasons related as being of a personal nature, while another female employee jumped from the roof, but was thwarted by the safety nets. In one of the larger protests, early last year 300 employees took to the roof and threatened to jump over payment issues.

[via People.com.cn]