Suicide has become more than the desperate release of a nearly enslaved factory worker, there at Foxconn. It has also become a bargaining chip. 200 workers posed ready to jump to win a dispute over promised compensation. At the beginning of 2012, 150 employees made a similar threat on the roof of a factory regarding working conditions. And earlier this June, 1,000 workers rioted in that same plant upon a dispute in a company restaurant.
Some of the measures Foxconn has adapted to answer the suicide-inspiring work environment — which lead 18 workers to jump from the top of the factory, 14 of which he died — include installing safety nets. This seems to be a case of curing the symptom and not the problem. They have also hired counselors to work with the employees.
If this is the cost of getting our iPhones a little cheaper, we have to ask ourselves: is it worth it?