Apple, Dell and HP are investigating their overseas partner Foxconn, a Chinese component maker that has seen several employee suicides in the past year.

Labor activists have accused Foxconn of instituting sweatshop-like work conditions for its employees, compelling nine workers to kill themselves to escape their harsh routines. Apple, Dell and HP have announced that they are in contact with Foxconn to examine the work conditions.

“We’re in direct contact with Foxconn senior management and we believe they are taking this matter very seriously,” said Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman, in a statement to Bloomberg. “A team from Apple is independently evaluating the steps they are taking to address these tragic events and we will continue our ongoing inspections of the facilities where our products are made.”

Foxconn's harsh work conditions have been especially high-profile because it is known for producing components for the phenomenally popular iPhone, among products for companies other than Apple. However, labor issues have been prevalent across Asian suppliers for years. Many Asian-supply workers and labor-rights activists have cited sweatshop-like conditions such as hourly wages below a dollar, violations of work hours and firings without notice.

The most sensational story about Foxconn to date involved an employee committing suicide over the loss of a prototype fourth-generation iPhone after allegedly being bullied by the company's security officers. The New York Times launched an independent investigation, in which a reporter's translator faced physical threats from a Foxconn security officer while questioning the victim's family.

The ninth Foxconn death occurred Tuesday with a 19-year-old's apparent suicide — just one week after the company's eighth employee suicide.

To offer a first-hand account of Foxconn, reporter Liu Zhiyi of the Chinese paper Southern Weekend went undercover as an employee at the factory. She reported that workers were stuck in grueling, repetitive jobs and working long hours for minimal pay.

In response to the scrutiny surrounding Foxconn, billionaire Terry Gou, founder of Hon Hai (aka Foxconn Technology Group), this week opened a tour of the factory to journalists.

"We expect our suppliers to employ the same high standards we do in our own facilities," a Dell spokesman said in a statement. "We enforce these standards through a variety of tools, including the Electronics Industry code of conduct, business reviews with suppliers, self-assessments and audits."

HP has also said it is investigating "the Foxconn practices that may be associated with these tragic events."

Photo: Bert van Dilk/Flickr

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