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Labor Dispute

No Mooncakes, No work! Workers at Apple’s Supplier in Dongguan on Strike

Posted: 09/12/2014 10:10 am

Workers from Wasstop, a subsidiary of Taiwanese company Wintek, gathered outside of the company to protest.

Hundreds of workers at one of Apple’s suppliers in Dongguan were on strike Tuesday and Wednesday after the company failed to give the workers mooncakes and an RMB 600 ($98) bonus, reported Nandu on September 10.

Workers at the Masstop Liquid Crystal Display Company, blocked a major intersection at Shilong Road and Huancheng Road in Sanyuan Industrial Park, causing traffic congestion, the report said.

The government has banned officials from giving mooncakes to employees in an effort to reign in corruption. Of course, the mooncakes aren’t really the issue, rather it’s the bonuses that typically accompany them. Nonetheless, the law has led to a sharp drop in sales among mooncake suppliers across the country.

One unidentified worker said that the company typically gives a holiday bonus for Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and Spring Festival to employees who have worked at the company for over a year. This year however, the bonus for Mid-Autumn Festival was absent, without any explanation.

Police vehicles at the protesting scene

Although Apple distanced itself from Masstop following a labour strike in 2009,  Globalpost reported, the optics aren’t particularly good. With the tech giant launching its new iPhones earlier this week, “strike” and “protest” probably aren’t the sort of headlines the company is looking for.

Apple had no comment regarding the protest. By 18:00 on Wednesday, about 80% of workers had returned to work.

Photos: China News 

Haohao
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Thugs Beat Up Sanitation Workers in Dongguan Contract Dispute

Posted: 08/28/2014 9:00 am

Nearly 40 sanitation workers in Dongguan were ambushed and badly beaten by a pipe-wielding mob following a contract dispute with a local landscaping company, Nandu reported on August 26.

The Dongguan Meishengda Municipal Engineering Co Ltd. were awarded a contract with the local Wancheng government to oversee the district’s landscaping and sanitation work. However, the sanitation workers defiantly refused to sign the contract claiming it was nothing more than a sheet of blank paper. According to Lin Junguo, a 59 year-old sanitation worker who has been sweeping Dongguan streets for nearly 20 years, the contract made no mention of the name of the employer, the salary, the length of the contract, or annual leave.

Of the 700 workers presented with the agreement, approximately 200 refused to sign. Those who objected were dismissed and replaced with new workers.

The violence erupted around 6:30am on August 25 when 40 workers gathered at Dongmen Square with the intention of taking their case to the local petition bureau. According to witnesses, four vans suddenly arrived carrying 20 or so tattooed young men with meter-long steel pipes. The men then attacked anyone wearing a sanitation uniform. The assault lasted approximately three minutes.

The company denied any involvement in the incident, and dismissed the accusation that they had hired triad members to attack the workers. According to the company, three workers who had been hired to replace those who refused to sign the new contract were responsible. Earlier that day, they had been assaulted by several of the dismissed workers. But when the newspaper interviewed the three injured workers, they denied any involvement: “(They were) not sent by us. If you have any questions, you should ask our boss,” one of the three injured workers said.

According to the SCMP, among construction companies, hiring triad members to “keep workers in line” is not an uncommon practice.

More than 10 sanitation workers were injured with two needing further surgery. Two passer-bys were also injured during the beating. The police have arrested seven suspects.

Here are some of the images:

Photos: Guangzhou Daily; sina weibo

Haohao
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30,000 Workers Strike in Dongguan, Robots Planned As Replacements

Posted: 04/18/2014 2:58 pm

robot worker labor factory

Labor strife in Guangdong can be had to generalize: as some labor disputes flare up and workers are granted concessions, other labor protesters are convicted for “disturbing social order”. And so, we have the following pieces of news, both announced recently.

There are currently 30,000 workers are on strike at the Yu Yuan Industrial shoe making factory complex in Dongguan, the Associated Press reports. Workers have been protesting the company’s lack of social security and welfare benefits, and have been staging periodic work stoppages at the factory since April 5.

Yu Yuan makes components used in shoes by Nike, Adidas, Reebok and New Balance in a gigantic complex made up of ten separate factories. The Nanfang had first told you about this labor dispute back on April 7.

SEE: Foxconn to Replace Shenzhen Workers with Robots

Striker Cui Tiangang, 31, was adamant on the demands made by the workers. Cui said, “We expect at least an explanation, to give us an answer… We will keep on striking if there is no offer.”

If true to claims made by the organizers, this protest is the largest strike of its kind to ever take place in China. As historic an occasion that may be, Cui’s solidarity for his fellow worker may just be a quaint notion in the not-too distant future.

An industrial development guideline issued by the Guangzhou municipal government is encouraging the use of robots instead of human labor by providing companies with cash rebates. In fact, Guangzhou plans to have 80 percent of all its manufacturing production to be performed by robots instead of humans by 2020.

READ: Strike by Sanitation Workers in Guangzhou
Leaves the City Messy, But Wins a Pay Raise

That’s not all: the Guangzhou government is proposing to construct two or three robot industrial development zones. Each of these in turn will make 100,000 robot units a year by 2020.

It’s simply great that waves upon waves of robots will be given the jobs necessary to provide for their robot families, but a reliance upon technology does not always solve the problem at hand as seen in the documentary about the decline of American prosperity, Robocop (1987).

Sure, it will be great to reap the rewards of a worker that won’t go on strike, and will neither arrest nor harm any senior executives of OCP. Luo Jun, executive chairman of the International Robotics and Intelligent Equipment Industry Alliance, predicts the annual output value gained from the robotics industry in China will equal 300 billion yuan (US$48 billion) in 10 years.

READ: Dongguan Workers on Strike at Samsung Supply Factory

However, industry experts are warning against an over-reliance upon the Western market and its technology as well as the danger of overcapacity. At that point, both robots and workers will be out of a job.

Manufacturing production is a huge industry for China and if this sector should ever suffer a economic breakdown with catastropic consequences, we may be referring to Robocop more often. If it isn’t “I’ll buy that for a dollar!” then it will be this:

“Riches, leave.”

Photo: Robotics Business Review

More stories:
Bra Workers Strike After Being Told to “Jump Off a Roof”
Another Suicide at Foxconn? Employee Jumps Off 9th Floor After Slitting Wrists
Another Worker Plummets to His Death At Foxconn
Guangdong Factory Workers Strike After Being Insulted By Boss

Haohao
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Thousands strike at Nike, Adidas, Reebok factory in Dongguan over invalid contracts

Posted: 04/7/2014 9:02 am

Thousands of workers took to the streets on Saturday at a shoe making factory in Dongguan under the Taiwan-based Pou Chen Group when workers discovered that the factory has cheated them by using invalid contracts and signing up long-term workers with temporary staff social insurance schemes.

Yuyuan shoe factory in Gaobu Town in Dongguan is the biggest shoe making factory for more than 30 world famous sportswear brands such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok and Salomon. It has been operating in Dongguan since 1998 and currently has more than 60,000 workers, China News reported on April 5. It was also the factory where basketball legend Michael Jordan visited in 2004 on a China tour. 

One of the workers surnamed Li said he had been working in the factory for more than 10 years and was on a permanent work contract, but when he used the work contract as a proof to enroll his child into a local school, he was told the contract was not legally binding. Many other workers also reported similar instances, the report said. Migrant workers in Guangdong must present documents proving their long-term residency in the province, consecutive five-year records of social insurance fees, and one-child policy certificates in order to enroll their children into local schools, according to article 27 in the province’s laws managing migrant workers.

In addition to cheating workers by using invalid contracts, workers discovered that many of their social insurances schemes were downgraded to temp staff packages. According to the report, the downgrades were not only discovered in one of Yuyuan’s factories, but several other factories under Yuyuan as well. Workers had been negotiating with the factory, but nothing fruitful had come of it. It eventually escalated into Saturday’s protests.

Meanwhile, insurance standards in the factory also vary, according to the report. One of the workers surnamed Jiang said she paid more than RMB 40,000 ($6,440) for her insurance package, while another worker, who enrolled in the factory around the same time Jiang did, only paid a little over RMB 10,000 ($1,610). It was unclear what kind of packages Jiang or her coworker were entitled to.

One person in charge of one of the factories at Yuyuan declined to comment and said the factory is scheduling another round of negotiations with workers on April 14. The factory’s production has so far been uninterrupted by the protests.

Home page and content page photo credit: Net Ease 

Haohao
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Guangdong factory workers strike after being insulted by boss

Posted: 04/20/2012 3:05 pm

News of another worker protest made headlines this week not for their demands for higher pay or more days off, but, according to this Guangzhou Daily report, an apology after those protesting felt they’d been humiliated by their boss.

Back to work, slaves!

The story takes us to Nanhai, where the small Qiangqun shoe factory has operated without issue for 19 years. The dispute reached a head when the factory received notice late last month from the local demolition office that the factory had been ordered to move, and soon.  So, this past Saturday, Lin, the GM of the factory, rounded everyone up to let them know that they would still have jobs at another factory owned by the same company in Yongli, around two kilometers away, and that no changes would be made to their wages or other benefits.

The workers then began claiming severance pay, even if they would remain employees of the same conglomerate. Also, they complained that Yongli was too far away.

Lin’s response? “Get the hell out of here if you don’t want the job, all you shit-for-brains!”

Lin’s outburst has prompted many former employees to turn to the media.  ”Even if he’s the boss, he can’t insult people like this, we hope to see an apology,” one of them said.  Another noted: “We’re there to work, not be insulted.”

Isn’t China’s Labor Day in a week or two?

Lin, for his part, has admitted to reporters that he might have used the word “shit” during the meeting, but insists that people weren’t meant to take it literally. He says he wanted reporters to read between the lines and make a smart and rational decision.

As for compensation, lawyers say it comes down to the relationship between the two companies.

Haohao
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