Young workers on iPhone 7 assembly line

Young workers on iPhone 7 assembly line
- Upon hearing his fellow worker committed suicide by jumping off a high building, Wang Guoying, who was playing video games, froze in silent shock. Foxconn, one of the world's biggest contract electronics manufacturers, has witnessed at least 20 suicides of its workers since 2010. The latest, who jumped from a factory roof at Foxconn's Henan plant on the morning of August 18, was said to have just finished an all-night assembly shift for iPhone 7. "I have worked overtime for 13 days," said the 19-year-old Wang (an alias). "If there wasn't this short rest break, I would also have killed myself."
For Wang Guoying, "there's not much point" in that. It would not bring him any useful skills by "wasting" time there for another two or three years, and all he can do is to transfer to another Foxconn plant. "Work harder and save much money, so I can marry and build a home back to my village," said Wang. This might be his only clear future.

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