Chinese workers Rebel

[Thinking Man's Idiot]

Chinese workers rebel after bosses renege on contract

(Wednesday 26 November 2008)





FURIOUS: Chinese toy factory workers next to an overturned police car outside their place of work.



ABOUT 560 unemployed workers rioted at a toy factory in southern China on Tuesday, overturning a police car, storming the plant's gates and smashing computers after bosses reportedly violated a new labour contract law.

The workers initially rallied peacefully outside the Kai Da toy factory in Dongguan's Zhongtang township, in solidarity with 80 men who were axed earlier this month after being employed at the factory for over 10 years.

The veteran employees said that they had been offered a derisory redundancy package.


And they accused their employer, Hong Kong-listed Kader Holdings Company, of violating a new law which stipulates that employers must sign unlimited-term contracts with employees who have worked for over 10 years.


When around 1,000 police and security guards moved in to disperse the crowd, protesters erupted, flipping a police car, shattering police motorcycle headlights and breaking through the factory gates.


The crowd reportedly broke windows, computers and other equipment in the factory's offices.


One of the workers, Liu Xiyuan from Hunan province, who reported that he had worked at the Kai Da plant for 21 years, said that he had turned down compensation equivalent to eight months wages when his contract expired on November 19.


"If I had accepted the compensation, it would have meant all my 21 years of work wouldn't count," Mr Liu complained.


On Tuesday night, Kader managers fled their offices, but they later released a statement insisting that they had compensated the workers "according to China's labour law."


A huge Dongguan factory that made toys for Mattel and Hasbro abruptly shut down last month, laying off 7,000 people.


The workers protested in the streets for days demanding unpaid wages until Dongguan's labour bureau began doling out compensation.

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[Thinking Man's Idiot]

Chinese factory workers riot

tags:

• China
• manufacturing and materials
• job losses
• occupations
• riots

November 26th, 2008 by Django


More unrest in China following further layoffs in the industrial heartland.



Over 500 rioted yesterday at a toy factory in Dongguan, on the Pearl River Delta in southern China, over pitiful severance payments handed out to 596 workers laid off this month.

According to a spokesman from the propaganda office, the dispute centered around the level of compensation paid to a group of 80 migrant workers at the factory, who mobilised fellow migrant workers and unemployed labourers into a large crowd which stormed the factory. According to the local government, over 2000 took part in the protest, with around 500 involved in the rioting. A police car was overturned and police motorbikes were damaged as the factory gates were forced open, and the crowd gained access to company offices where computers and other equipment were destroyed. The factory is owned by the Hong Kong based Kader Holdings Company Ltd.


Dongguan, a major industrial city, has been badly affected by the global economic crisis. Many of the 7000 companies which have either collapsed or relocated out of China employed workers there. 2.8 million job losses have been forecast for the Pearl River Delta as part of government and industry estimates. At least 67,000 factories have closed in China this year.


The rise in layoffs and job cuts has seen a corresponding rise in strikes, protests and riots by workers attempting to defend themselves. In October, 7000 workers employed by the Smart Union factory in Dongguan - who manufacture toys for Mattel, Disney and Hasbro - struck and occupied the factory and surrounding roads after the non-payment of three months wages. The government was forced to step in and guarantee the workers the money in the face of the campaign. A two day riot against evictions in Northwest China was put down using tear gas, as protesters resisting their eviction as part of a govenment land grab attacked police with axes, chains and, bizarrely, flowerpots.


The rising level of working class combativity in China as its export-led economy is badly hit by the global crisis has left Communist Party officials feeling very uneasy indeed.

Get back to work you Slaves, how can we enjoy cheap plastic shit if you selfish Bastards are on strike?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Get back to work you Slaves, how can we enjoy cheap plastic shit if you selfish Bastards are on strike?

That's the spirit! Merry Christmas!
LOL