The Foxconn incidents: a wake up call for workers, communities and the

government

Prof. He Gaochao School of Government Sun Yat-Sen University

3 wake-up call events

• 87 female workers burned to death in 1993 (1993年深圳致丽玩具厂大火)

• 15 young workers suicide in 2010 • 2000 workers strike in Nanhai Honda in

2010 • 40,000 fingers lost annually in PRD • Endless mine incidents (2003 矿难：35% vs. 80%） • …

Two type of sweatshop

Traditional

Sweatshop

Modem Hi Tech

Sweatshop

Production

environment

Dirty, noisy,

dangers, and

physical demanding

Clean, quiet,

repetitive, and

mental demanding

Management

regime

Dictatorial

Dictatorial

Labor regime in questions

• 19th Century style of sweatshop – Horrible production environment and

dictatorial production regime • High tech labor camp

– Modern production environment, but dictatorial production regime

Three type of resistance

• Individual right defending • Suicide • Collective action

New labor regime in demand

• New discourse of “bottom line socialism” • Strong union • Strong legislations • Strong government monitoring • More political space