Workers picket factory for 3rd day over bonuses
Hundreds of striking migrant workers picketed an electronics factory in Shanghai for a third day yesterday in a feud stemming from allegations of layoffs and unpaid bonuses.
The workers claim Shanghai Yixin Industry owes them months of unpaid benefits for working in high temperatures during the summer and overtime for working night shifts.
'We just want to meet with the boss,' said Yuan Lei, 21, from Hubei province . 'We have been waiting for three days now, but he still refuses to come out.'
Ms Yuan said workers had been promised an extra 10 yuan (HK$11.29) a day between June and September for working in the heat.
'We were working 12-hour shifts in 35 degrees Celsius to 42 degrees,' she said. 'But after all these months, they still haven't paid us this money.'
She said workers also felt the management was underpaying them for overnight shifts, giving only 2.50 yuan a night instead of the 'going rate' of 4.40 yuan.
Work at the factory had ground to a halt, the protesters claimed, leaving them concerned for their Lunar New Year bonuses.
'It is nearly time for spring festival, so we'd rather go home early,' said one woman from Sichuan . 'But we don't even have money for the trip back to our hometowns.'
The agitated but peaceful crowd filled almost the entire forecourt of the factory in Minhang district, in the southwest of the city, spilling out onto the main street outside the gate. Around a dozen uniformed police were present, but did not appear to be interfering with the protest.
However, the workers - almost all young women - claimed members of their group had been attacked by 'gangsters' hired by the management, and arrested or beaten by police.
'The company's gangsters attacked and beat us using pickaxes,' said one protester, who showed a photograph of the alleged weapons on his mobile phone. 'The police arrested five people yesterday and one person this morning. They beat up more than 10 people on Monday night, and some are still in hospital.'
Several protesters showed cuts and bruises on their arms, shoulders and faces.
Yixin assistant manager Rochester Guo Yuxia denied the company had resorted to violence.
' 'What happened was that on the afternoon of the first day [Monday], some workers were trying to leave the factory after their shift finished, but the protesters would not let them through the gate. It seems a fight broke out.'
Mr Guo said several hundred of the factory's 2,000 workers were at work as normal, and denied staff had been laid off. 'We have arranged shifts for them, but they refuse to work,' he said.
The parent company, Huan Hsin Holdings, issued a statement from Singapore last night denying the factory had ceased production.
It said Yixin 'respected local labour laws and has paid its employees on time' and was working with local authorities to seek 'a mutually acceptable solution' to the dispute with the workers.
Raw deal
The workers claim they toiled in 12-hour shifts in 35 to 42 degrees Celsius
Extra income they are supposed to get in return per day, in yuan, is: 10
