An American boss detained nearly a week by his company’s Chinese workers left the Beijing factory on Thursday after he and a labour representative said the two sides reached agreement in a pay dispute.
Chip Starnes, who said he was “saddened” by the experience, said a deal was reached overnight to pay the scores of workers who had demanded severance packages similar to ones given to laid-off co-workers in a phased-out division, even though the company said the remaining workers weren’t being laid off.
Yes!! Out and back at hotel. Showered... 9 pounds lost during the ordeal!!!!!!
Remaining workers at the medical supply plant in Huairou district, on the outskirts of Beijing, had said they believed the entire factory was shutting down, that the company owed unpaid salary and that they saw equipment being packed and itemised for shipping to India.
Starnes said the workers’ demands were unjustified. Neither he nor district labour official Chu Lixiang gave details of the agreed compensation. Chu said all the workers would be terminated, and Starnes said some of them would be rehired later.
“It has been resolved to each side’s satisfaction,” Chu told reporters at a conference room at the plant in late morning. She said they had been sorting out paperwork until 5am and that 97 workers had signed settlement agreements.
Starnes, a co-owner of Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, had quietly departed the factory grounds by the time Chu spoke, returning to his hotel in Beijing.