Xbox workers threaten suicide

DOZENS of Chinese workers assembling Xbox video game consoles climbed onto a factory dormitory roof, and some threatened to jump to their deaths, in a row over jobs.

The dispute was settled but highlights growing labour unrest as China’s economy slows.

The dispute boiled over after contract manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group said it would close the production line for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 consoles at its plant in the central city of Wuhan and transfer some workers to other jobs.

Workers said Foxconn initially offered severance pay for those who wanted to leave rather than be transferred, but then reneged. Foxconn said transfers were offered, not severance, and only to some workers.

The workers climbed to the top of the six-storey dormitory and threatened to jump before city officials persuaded them to return to work. Staff said up to 200 people were involved in the strike and photos posted online showed dozens of people crowding the roof of the boxy concrete building.

“Actually none of them were going to jump. They were there for the compensation. But the government and the company officials were just as afraid because, if even one of them jumped, the consequences would be hard to imagine,” said Wang Jungang, an engineer.

The row is the latest labour trouble to hit Foxconn, part of Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co that makes iPads and iPhones for Apple as well as Xboxes and other gadgets, helping consumer electronics brands hold down costs.

Its massive China plants are run with military-like discipline, which labour rights activists say contributed to spate of suicides in 2010.

In May last year, an explosion killed three workers at one of its factories and in the first five months of 2010 at least 16 Foxconn factory workers jumped from high buildings, resulting in 12 deaths. The problems prompted the company to get workers to sign a “no suicide” pledge.

Foxconn currently employs more than a million people on the Chinese mainland.