Seems that there was an explosion at a local factory, owned by the Taiwan-based Foxconn corporation. Two workers died at the scene, and one died a few days later following complications from injuries. A further 15 people were severely burned.
You may have heard of Foxconn before, because they are one of Apple Computer's main contracted manufacturers, making both the iPhone and, here in Hongguang, the iPad2. They've been in the news last year as well, because of the working conditions at their factory in the eastern city of Shenzhen. There, to stop a rash of worker suicides at their factory, they installed anti-suicide nets, among other measures.
In fact, it was the situation in Shenzhen, along with huge customer demand for the iPad, that led Foxconn to build a factory here in the Chengdu area in the first place. Labor is cheaper here in Sichuan province than out on the coast, and most of Foxconn's workers out east come from Sichauan anyway. So they built a factory here in record time - in just 70 days, according to one source. According to some interviews with workers, labor conditions at the Chengdu plant weren't much different from conditions in Shenzhen.
So what caused the explosion? Nobody's sure yet. But it doesn't take a genius to figure out that a factory built in 70 days + low-paid employees + high demand + forced overtime = a less than ideally safe working environment. Oh yeah, and it happened in a section of the factory where they polish parts with, among other things, manganese powder. Which happens to be highly explosive if it saturates the air in any given area. Hmmm.
So, again the question. What do we pay for the stuff we have? What do others pay for us? More about my connection to all of this coming up soon.
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