Chinese Maoists join students in fight for workers’ rights at Jasic Technology
Leftists show support for employees of stock market-listed company, who are campaigning for the right to form a trade union
A high-profile intervention of leftist Chinese university students in a labour rights dispute in southern China gained momentum this week when old guards from the country’s leading ultra-left group joined the protest.
The students have been campaigning for workers of stock market-listed Jasic Technology, who are fighting for union rights, through street rallies, demonstrations, fundraising and open letters.
The Shenzhen, Guangdong province, company is a manufacturer of electronic welding machines and robotic arms. Efforts to start a union resulted in a crackdown by factory management and city authorities last month, according to workers.
Seven Jasic worker representatives have been sacked, beaten and detained and 29 of their supporters arrested. They include family members, colleagues and a student.
As of Tuesday night, 14 people – including a nursing mother, Zhang Zeying – were still in detention for allegedly picking quarrels and disrupting order.
At noon on Monday, about 80 supporters staged a second rally under the scorching sun outside Yanziling police station in Shenzhen’s Pingshan district, about 50km (31 miles) from the border with Hong Kong. More than 40 Communist Party members and retired cadres, who are part of the country’s leading Maoist internet forum, Utopia, joined the rally.