Foxconn has confirmed that a 23-year-old worker committed suicide this week by jumping from his apartment in the southwestern city of Chengdu. The worker only began his employment with Foxconn last month. Police are investigating the death.

Although Foxconn suicides are nothing new — several were reported back in 2010, while three employees died in a factory explosion last year — this is the first since Foxconn pledged to improve the working conditions at its Chinese plants following scrutiny from the media and worker rights groups.

After a Fair Labor Association report uncovered wide-scale violations of several worker rights earlier this year, Foxconn has already hired tens of thousands of new workers to reduce employee overtime, improved its safety protocols, upgraded worker housing, and issued pay increases. The company is now working with Apple to make its factories a better place to work for the 1.2 million workers it employs.

However, there is still concern from activists that the company isn’t doing enough. Back in May, labor watchdog Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior said that “nothing’s changed” at Foxconn’s factories, and that “the frontline management continue to impose humiliating disciplinary measures on workers.”

Earlier this month, over 1,000 workers began rioting over what was described as a “minor” incident in a Foxconn canteen.

Foxconn is one of Apple’s biggest manufacturing partners, assembling almost all of its products, including its incredibly popular iOS devices.

Source: Business Insider