Arbitrators rule against severely injured Foxconn worker

A Foxconn worker that needed half his brain removed after an accident at one of the company's manufacturing facilities, has been ruled against by Chinese labour arbitrators, making it now seem likely that he will be forced to undergo disability testing in an area that offers far less support than what his father claims he is owed.

Back in October 2011, Foxconn worker Zhang Tingzhen received an electric shock that ultimately led to him needing almost half his brain surgically removed, in order to keep him alive. Since then he's received treatment in Shenzhen city where his father claims he was hired. However, Foxconn has been pushing for him to be sent to Huizhou, some 43 miles away, to undergo disability tests. Now that arbitrators have ruled in favour of Foxconn, Zhang's current treatment will stop and his level of care will likely decrease, since Huizhou doesn't have the same facilities as where's he's been treated for the past year.

However, Foxconn has denied this, saying to Reuters that: “As we have reassured the family in the past, the place of Mr. Zhang's employment has no impact on the level of support that our company will be providing Mr. Zhang and his family during his current rehabilitation or as part of any long-term care.”

Zhang's father doesn't agree though and has said he plans to appeal the decision, as he wants his son to continue receiving care at the Shenzhen facility. Along with other labour activists, he's also suggested that it's a common practice in china to hire workers in poorer areas and then ship them to more affluent ones for the actual work, thereby denying them benefits and wage increases.

Foxconn was also recently criticised for having thuggish security.

KitGuru Says: Once again this shines the light on China's labour practices and the willingness of Western companies like Apple, Microsoft and Amazon to do business with it. All of them have production deals with Foxconn, a company that in the past has been rife with employee suicides and accidental deaths.

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