Calls for boycott in death of worker

TAIPEI, Taiwan — One of China’s largest e-commerce giants, Pinduoduo, is facing calls for a boycott after an engineer committed suicide — the company’s second death in less than two weeks — amid accusations of harsh work conditions.

Pinduoduo, an online deals platform responsible for minting the country’s second-richest man, has become a lightning rod for public anger over the grueling hours common in China’s tech industry — known as the “996” work culture, it is an expectation to work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week.

Pinduoduo said an employee surnamed Tan had jumped to his death in his hometown of Changsha in central China on Saturday. The company said Tan, in his 20s, had asked for leave from the Shanghai-based company on Friday without giving a reason and traveled home that same day.

The company said it had sent a team to Changsha and expressed its “profound sadness” over Tan’s death.

“To support our employees, we are setting up an internal channel and dedicated team to provide psychological counseling and consultation services for emergencies,” Pinduoduo said in an emailed statement.

Tan’s death follows that of a woman in her 20s named Fei who collapsed while walking home from a long shift at the company on Dec. 29. She died after six hours of first-aid treatment, and while the cause of death has not been released, critics seized on the case as an example of consistently inhumane treatment of those working in the tech industry.

On Sunday, Pinduoduo’s public relations crisis deepened when an employee surnamed Wang posted a video where he described the relentless pace at the company, alleging that staff members were required to work 300 hours a month. According to Wang, the department where Fei worked, which specialized in groceries, required 380 hours.

Wang said he was dismissed after he earlier posted a photo of an ambulance he claimed was carrying away another co-worker who had collapsed at the office.

Anger on social media, already at a high after the death of the young woman, reached a new level in response to Tan’s death and Wang’s video, which was viewed more than 50 million times as of Monday.

Hundreds of comments called for boycotting the Groupon-like platform which has gained market dominance by catering to the low-end e-commerce segment.