WELCOME TO THE ARCHIVE (1994-2014) OF THE MAQUILA SOLIDARITY NETWORK. For current information on our ongoing work on the living wage, women's labour rights, freedom of association, corporate accountability and Bangladesh fire and safety, please visit our new website, launched in October, 2015: www.maquilasolidarity.org
Family members react - May 2011
Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) has released a statement blaming a May 20 explosion at Foxconn's Ipad plant on the company, which it says is putting productivity over worker safety. The blast, which killed two workers and injured 16, could have been prevented, says SACOM. The group points to an early May report in which it raised issues with dangerous aluminum dust in the factory's polishing department where the blast occurred.
Last week we alerted you to the tragic suicides at a Chinese factory making products for many of the world's best-known electronics brands - including Apple's new iPads. This week we're outraged by yet another death at the Foxconn factory, this time apparently due to exhaustion after Yan Li, a 27-year old Foxconn engineer, worked continuously for 34 hours.
As consumers rush to get their hands on an iPad, Apple Inc.'s latest gadget, which officially hit Canadian stores today, Asian civil society organizations are protesting Foxconn, the world's leading electronics manufacturer and one of Apple's major suppliers, for its deplorable labour practices which have been linked to 12 worker suicides at one of its Chinese plants this year alone.