Last week on January 2nd, 300 hundred employees at Foxconn threatened a mass suicide in Wuhan, China, due to being turned down for a raise request. Foxconn is important as they produce several products for Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. It turns out this group of workers creates Xbox 360's.
According to the Chinese anti-government China Jasmine Revolution website, the employees were promised compensation by Foxconn if they quit as opposed to getting a raise as they wanted. The website states that they weren't and decided to protest it with this large threat. They apparently weren't persuaded away from following through until the next day, January 3rd, at 9:00pm by the mayor of Wuhan.
Someone representing Microsoft responded to Kotaku with the following statement,
"Microsoft takes working conditions in the factories that manufacture its products very seriously, and we are currently investigating this issue. We have a stringent Vendor Code of Conduct that spells out our expectations, and we monitor working conditions closely on an ongoing basis and address issues as they emerge. Microsoft is committed to the fair treatment and safety of workers employed by our vendors, and to ensuring conformance with Microsoft policy."
In the past Foxconn has had issues with it's employees committing suicide forcing them to have to install suicide prevention nets at certain facilities. Microsoft at the time still believed they were an important partner and fully trusted them. Even with at least a dozen employees committing suicide. With more issues occuring, hopefully they'll be able to prevent this from happening again in the future.
Sources: Kotaku, Want China Times
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