Foxconn 'not a sweatshop' – Chairman

The head of Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn, has defended the company’s treatment of workers in his first public statement concerning the recent number of suicides at its Shenzhen facility, the Wall Street Journal reported. "I believe we are definitely not a sweatshop," Foxconn chairman Terry Gou said. "It is very difficult to manage a manufacturing team of more than 800,000 people. There are many things to do every day. But we are confident we will be able to stabilize the situation very soon." Last week a 21-year-old jumped from the top floor of a factory building at Foxconn’s Longhua production plant in Shenzhen, bringing the total number of suicides at the Taiwan company’s China facilities this year to 10. US-based group China Labor Watch said a recent survey found workers at Foxconn complaining about the pressures of their working environment.