Foxconn head refers to workers as animals

Foxconn may be building world’s favored smartphone and tablet, but the company is also known to be surrounded with internal disputes and controversies. As much as it is known for crafting the famous iPad and iPhone, the company is also infamous for labour disputes and suicides. It has struck yet another controversy and this time blame it on Terry Gou, the chairman of Foxconn’s parent company. At the year ending meeting, Terry Gou compared the company workers to animals, as per reports by WantChinaTown.

Choose your words wisely

"Hon Hai has a workforce of over one million worldwide and as human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache," said Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou. Well, he didn’t just stop here. He also revealed a desire to learn to manage animals from Chin Shih-chien, director of Taipei Zoo. Reportedly, the working conditions at Foxconn manufacturing parts and devices (for western tech companies) aren’t favorable and rather poor. Last year, a number of workers at the Foxconn’s China plant committed suicide.

As per reports from the local Common Wealth magazine, Gou invited Chin to be a part of the company's annual review meeting and asked the general managers in the group to listen to Chin's lecture. Chin went on to lecture the gathered crowd on his experiences of managing different animals, according to their individual temperaments. Gou recently traveled to university campuses and declared plans to invest in the automation of his factories while talking to students. OA Foxconn Vice President also revealed, "It's a tough job to manage a workforce of over one million, young people's hearts in China are hard to get hold of."

Apple had also released its report on its suppliers and labour conditions recently. Amidst some minor improvements, the report shows that pay deductions were used as a punishment and laws regulating overtime pay were neglected. Some factories had indefinitely delayed payments and payslips weren't given.  In such working conditions, employees are being treated as animals. However, for Terry Gou, all we can say is - choose your words wisely.