Mental sweatshop

YESTERDAY another employee of Foxconnjumped to his death in its Shenzhen plant.That is the eleventh this year. Already ninehave died and two severely injured. Though Foxconnhas large numbers of employees, it is certainlyextraordinary that its workers' suicidal jumps havebeen frequent over the past five months.

Generally speaking, a sweatshop is a factory withhorribly dangerous and difficult conditions whereworkers, who are poorly paid but have to work longhours, are exposed to harmful substances, extremeheat, low temperatures or radiation. Judging by whatour reporters have gathered, Foxconn does notanswer this description. Its employees have fewcomplaints about its facilities or their workingenvironment.

However, they are unhappy about itsmanagement. Workers may not speak when they work.One may not go to the toilet unless one's position issupplied. Workers hear nothing at work exceptmonotonous noise from machinery. Because workersof one unit are given different rooms, one may hardlyknow one's roommates. When a worker returns to hisdormitory, others on other shifts may be asleep, andhe may not very well disturb them.

In such circumstances, if one is sociable, one mayhave few emotional problems because one may havefriends with whom one may go out to have meals orstroll the streets together. However, according to someFoxconn employees, some young people who workthere have difficult relationships or problems at work.They may not speak at work, and they may have noone to talk to after work. Introverts who do not makefriends are almost cut off from the outside world. Suchpeople are at risk.

From what we have mentioned above, Foxconnhas such hardware and offers its workers such termsof employment that it does not fit the normal definitionof sweatshop. However, it has adopted some inhumanpractices. For example, some say it makes a point ofpreventing its employees from becoming close to oneanother, and some of its supervisors are rude andprone to abuse their subordinates. Foxconn isregarded as a sweatshop of another kind - a mentalsweatshop.

Not only does inhuman management erodeindividual employees' lives, but it also breedsresentment. It may be a hotbed of industrial action andlabour movements. To nip the problem in the bud,Foxconn should change its ways and practices ofmanagement.

Terry Gou, who owns Foxconn, is a leadingTaiwan businessman. He is well spoken of for his waysof doing business and treating his employees. Forexample, he once personally arranged for eminentmonks from Mount Wutai to perform services atFoxconn in Shenzhen. He did so to solace hisemployees. Though one may say he put trifles beforeessentials, Terry Gou deserves praise for having hisemployees' welfare at heart. The company is urgentlyrecruiting psychotherapists and counsellors to helpemployees that have emotional problems. That showsTerry Gou is trying hard to address the problem.We have no idea what effective plans Terry Gouhas to help Foxconn employees in Shenzhen.

However, we believe the solution lies in "humanity". Ifthe company dumps its robot management (underwhich workers are regarded as machines), regardsthem as humans and respect them, they will work andlive happily, and no horrible stories like those about"the eleven consecutive jumps" will appear.

2010.05.26明報社評

富士康—物質豐腴企業 精神血汗工廠

深圳富士康廠區，昨日又有員工跳樓死亡，這是今年以來的第11 宗，已經釀成9 死2 重傷。富士康雖云員工衆多，但是5 個月之內員工密集跳樓尋死，肯定事不尋常。

一般而言，血汗工廠是指一間工廠的環境恐怖，工人在危險和困苦的環境工作，包括與有害物質、高熱、低溫、輻射為伍，兼且工時長、工資低等。記者採訪發現，富士康並非如此。員工對廠區建設、工作環境並無投訴。

不過，員工對工廠的管理有不少意見，包括上班時不能說話，要找人頂班才能上廁；平日工作間除了單調的機器聲音，寂靜無聲。回到宿舍，因為公司安排同一單位的工友住在不同房間，致使工友互不熟稔，另外，早晚更不同，回到宿舍只見到其他人睡覺，不好意思打擾。

這種情况下，若員工有交際能力，與一些同事相處得來，結伴吃飯、逛街，不會有情緒問題，但是有員工說，園內有不少年輕人面對男女感情和工作問題，上班不能說話，下班沒人傾訴，若個性內向，不易結識朋友，幾等於和外界斷絕，這些人就容易出事。

綜合上述情况，富士康就工廠硬件建設和待遇而言，並非一般定義上的血汗工廠，但是管理上存在一些非人性化做法（例如，被指刻意不讓工友之間熟稔、基層管理人員粗暴、存在責難打罵等），富士康被視為精神上的「另類血汗工廠」。

工廠的非人性化管理，不但磨蝕着個別員工的生命，其實也是滋生和累積不滿情緒的溫牀，乃發生醞釀工運和工潮的土壤，從防微杜漸出發，富士康也應該調整管理方式和措施。

富士康的老闆郭台銘是台灣大商家，他做生意的手法和對待員工一貫口碑甚佳，就以此事為例，他曾經親自安排五台山的高僧到富士康深圳廠區做法事，目的要使員工安心。這個做法，雖然有點捨本逐末，但是郭台銘以員工為念的之志，仍然應予肯定。富士康已在緊急招聘心理醫生和輔導人員，紓緩員工的情緒問題。這些舉措，顯示郭台銘在努力面對問題。

不知道郭台銘趕到深圳後有何善策良方解富士康員工之困，我們認為良方在「人性」二字，只要改變視員工為機器的「機械人管理」模式，視員工為一個人並予以尊重，則員工就會在愉悅的心境下工作、生活， 「11 連跳」的恐怖新聞才會畫上句號。

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