Killing Yourself To Live

I have had some bad jobs, but this takes the cake. If I was unhappy I don't know if I can imagine a scenario where I would climb up on the roof and threaten to jump off. You would either have to jump off or come down and get fired. That's how things work in America.

I wonder how the Xbox aficionados would feel about this? Actually they have no idea. If it's not on their GameBoy console they don't know. GameBoy is a really good name, because if you are using one it describes you. You are a BOY and not a MAN. Men get out and do things. BOYS play video games. Case closed. You're welcome.

Dozens of workers assembling Xbox video game consoles climbed to a factory dormitory roof, and some threatened to jump to their deaths, in a dispute over job transfers that was defused but highlights growing labor unrest as China's economy slows.

The dispute was set off after contract manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group announced it would close the assembly line for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 models at its plant in the central city of Wuhan and transfer the workers to other jobs, workers and Foxconn said Thursday.

Workers reached by telephone said Foxconn initially offered severance pay for those who wanted to leave rather than be transferred, but then reneged, angering the workers; Foxconn, in a statement, disputed that account, saying only transfers were offered, not severance.

The workers climbed to the top of the six-story dormitory on Jan. 3 and threatened to jump before Wuhan city officials persuaded them to desist and return to work, according to the workers and accounts online. The workers gave varying estimates of the numbers involved in the strike, from 80 to 200, and photos posted online showed dozens of people crowding the roof of the boxy concrete building.

"Actually none of them were going to jump. They were there for the compensation. But the government and the company officials were just as afraid, because if even one of them jumped, the consequences would be hard to imagine," said Wang Jungang, an equipment engineer in the Xbox production line, who left the plant earlier this month.

[Associated Press]