Chinese truck driver driven to suicide by exploitative conditions
A 51-year-old long-haul truck driver, Jin Deqiang, committed suicide by drinking pesticide after being unfairly fined 2,000 RMB ($US285) at a freight truck checkpoint in Tangshan, a city in the northern China province of Hebei. His death on April 5 tragically exposes the highly exploitative and harsh working conditions in which millions of long-haul truckers are struggling on a daily basis.
Earlier that day, Jin loaded his freight in the city of Tangshan and entered the checkpoint around 1 p.m. According to the official investigation launched after Jin’s suicide caught widespread public attention, staff at the checkpoint found that the satellite positioning system, BeiDou, on Jin’s truck was offline and asked him to come into the office for further inspection. Instead, Jin left the checkpoint to purchase some pesticide.