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China's Foxconn workers: from suicide threats to a trade union?
[I]n Wuhan, in central China's Hubei provinceโฆup to 200 workers from the Microsoft Xbox production line of Foxconn (part of Hon Hai)โฆa major supplier of Appleโฆstaged a strike...[and] threatened to kill themselvesโฆIn 2010โฆ18 of their colleaguesโฆdid attempt suicide; 14 died. Some employees and labour organisations blamed a combination of factors for the workers' deaths: low wages, long working hours โ sometimes up to 16 hours a day โ and inhuman treatment...[However,] migrant workers [are] beginning to resistโฆThis year, there has been a wave of factory revolts across six provinces in Chinaโฆin southern China's Guangdong provinceโฆvillagers staged well-organised protestsโฆThe intensive standoff endedโฆwhen top provincial leaders agreed to some of their demands...I hope China's leaders will really listen to the farmers, opening up more channels for them to express their grievances, and allowing some kind of independent labour union or at least a collective bargaining mechanism to ease the conflicts. And ultimately, they'll have to grant the same rights to those who make gadgets...[also refers to Honda]