A wave of strikes in the Pearl River and Yangtze River deltas over pay and compensation gathered momentum yesterday.
The increasing regularity of walkouts in the industrial heartlands is a sign of rising labour tensions as an ever more combative workforce faces off against employers battling the effects of a global slowdown.
Police clashed with strikers at a factory in Shanghai, detaining at least 10 picketers, as the plant's Singaporean owners adopted a hardline approach in a bid to break a deadlock on its seventh day.
'We arrived at the factory at 6am, but the gates were locked and we were not allowed in,' said a woman on strike from the Hi-P International electronics plant. 'There were about 200 police there and they wouldn't let us protest. Lots of workers were taken away.'
She said workers were taking their case to the municipal government, as they believed they had been fired for participating in the strike. The walkout started last Wednesday in protest at plans to relocate the factory to the outskirts of Shanghai. Some 200 workers who are unwilling to move are demanding compensation.
A Singapore-based Hi-P spokesman confirmed the police had broken up the picket line but was unable to clarify whether they had been acting independently or at the firm's request. 'No workers have been terminated,' the spokesman said. 'The information that I have is that the factory has resumed operations. A notice has been sent out to all workers telling them they should return to work within three days. If not, they will be terminated.'
He said that most of the 4,000-strong workforce had accepted the move and 'only a very small proportion' was involved in the strike.