Shanghai: strike hits Apple, Motorola and HP supplier
More than a thousand workers go out on strike for two days to protest layoffs and police violence. They demand respect for workers’ rights and oppose the shift of production to another plant.
Shanghai (AsiaNews) – More than a thousand workers in a Shanghai plant took part in a two-day strike to protest layoffs and police violence against workers that left a number of strikers injured. The plant is owned by a Singaporean company, Hi-P International, which supplies major consumer electronics companies such as Apple and Hewlett-Packard
A drop in demand in Europe and the United States, due to the global crisis, has hit China especially hard. In the “=’world’s factory’, industrial action is on the rise as workers demonstrate against employers and the government because of corruption, the lack of workers’ rights, downward pressure on wages and rising unemployment.
In Shanghai, workers began their strike on Wednesday. They laid down their tools to protest the company’s decision to move production to another city and lay off about 1,000 workers.
After two days on the picket lines, most workers stopped their labour action because of a violent police crackdown, which included direct charges against the workers.
About 50 diehards remain however. They continue to demand the company provide workers with information about its business plans for the plant and insist on better economic treatment.
“Sometimes, they ask us to work 18 or 19 hours in a day. Sometimes the overtime is even longer than a normal 8-hour work day,” said Tao Yong, a worker in his mid-30s.
China has seen an upsurge in protests in the recent past.
Last month alone, more than 7,000 workers went on strike to protest layoffs and wage cuts in the southern province of Guangdong.
Hundreds more protested in Shenzhen to demand the payment of overtime.
A drop in demand in Europe and the United States, due to the global crisis, has hit China especially hard. In the “=’world’s factory’, industrial action is on the rise as workers demonstrate against employers and the government because of corruption, the lack of workers’ rights, downward pressure on wages and rising unemployment.
In Shanghai, workers began their strike on Wednesday. They laid down their tools to protest the company’s decision to move production to another city and lay off about 1,000 workers.
After two days on the picket lines, most workers stopped their labour action because of a violent police crackdown, which included direct charges against the workers.
About 50 diehards remain however. They continue to demand the company provide workers with information about its business plans for the plant and insist on better economic treatment.
“Sometimes, they ask us to work 18 or 19 hours in a day. Sometimes the overtime is even longer than a normal 8-hour work day,” said Tao Yong, a worker in his mid-30s.
China has seen an upsurge in protests in the recent past.
Last month alone, more than 7,000 workers went on strike to protest layoffs and wage cuts in the southern province of Guangdong.
Hundreds more protested in Shenzhen to demand the payment of overtime.
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See also
Strike at HiP continues in Shanghai
06/12/2011
06/12/2011
