Workers at a Hong Kong-owned factory in Shenzhen where a man died, allegedly from exhaustion, claim they are pressured into working when ill.
Xu Zhangshui, 23, died in his sleep on December 27. Colleagues said he died of exhaustion after being forced to work overtime shifts of 14 hours a day with only half a day off each week.
Xu suffered tuberculosis, but colleagues said he would not have died so young had he not been overworked.
The death of Xu at the Four Seas Handbag Factory has highlighted working conditions in mainland factories owned by Hong Kong companies.
The Christian Industrial Committee recently completed a study which showed many such factories were overworking and underpaying employees.
Four Seas workers told the South China Morning Post last week that they could not refuse to work overtime because the company would deduct money from their salary.
'Even when we're ill, we have to work overtime. Otherwise they deduct $25 from you if you take half a day off and $50 for a full day,' said a woman who had worked there since May.