Thousands of workers at a Hong Kong-owned furniture factory in Shenzhen staged a protest on 3 April against long working hours and inhumane treatment.
About 3,000 workers tried to march to Qilin Guesthouse, where state leaders normally stay. But their actions were later stopped and the crowd was dispersed by hundreds of riot police an hour later, according to Hong Kong media reports.
The workers accused the Hong Kong managers of Ruifeng Timber of forcing them to work 12 hours – 3 hours of which were said to be "voluntary overtime work" - each day at the factory in Xili, Shenzhen, but refusing to pay overtime. They also were beaten by the factory’s security guards when they tried to air their grievances, according to the South China Morning Post.
A worker of the Ruifeng factory in Xili told Wen Wei Po and Mingpao that the workers at the factory could only have two days-off each month because the "voluntary overtime work" had been extended to Saturdays and two Sundays each month.
The reports said the workers at the factory were required to get an "off-duty permit" if they wanted go to the toilet or drink water; otherwise they would be fined 10-20 yuan. However, there were about 200 workers in each department and they could only share one "off-duty permit". Many workers were fined or even beaten up by their supervisors for not following this internal rule, the reports added. The workers had complained about that to the factory management and local labour authorities but they were ignored.
According to the reports, the factory was founded in 1990s and the Hong Kong company also owns two other factories in Shenzhen and Dongguan. A total of about 10,000 workers are employed in the three factories and they each receive a monthly salary of about 1,000 yuan.
Citing a mainland official survey, Mingpao reported that labour-capital conflict has become a major social problem in Shenzhen. Problems of wage arrears, low wages and overtime work are common in factories in Shenzhen and some workers would even have to do an average of 230 hours of overtime work each month.
In 2004, the Shenzhen Petition Department were visited 45,200 times, half of which were related to labour disputes, the reports said.
Sources: Wen Wei Po (4 April 2006), Mingpao (4 April 2006), South China Morning Post (4 April 2006)
4 April 2006
About 3,000 workers tried to march to Qilin Guesthouse, where state leaders normally stay. But their actions were later stopped and the crowd was dispersed by hundreds of riot police an hour later, according to Hong Kong media reports.
The workers accused the Hong Kong managers of Ruifeng Timber of forcing them to work 12 hours – 3 hours of which were said to be "voluntary overtime work" - each day at the factory in Xili, Shenzhen, but refusing to pay overtime. They also were beaten by the factory’s security guards when they tried to air their grievances, according to the South China Morning Post.
A worker of the Ruifeng factory in Xili told Wen Wei Po and Mingpao that the workers at the factory could only have two days-off each month because the "voluntary overtime work" had been extended to Saturdays and two Sundays each month.
The reports said the workers at the factory were required to get an "off-duty permit" if they wanted go to the toilet or drink water; otherwise they would be fined 10-20 yuan. However, there were about 200 workers in each department and they could only share one "off-duty permit". Many workers were fined or even beaten up by their supervisors for not following this internal rule, the reports added. The workers had complained about that to the factory management and local labour authorities but they were ignored.
According to the reports, the factory was founded in 1990s and the Hong Kong company also owns two other factories in Shenzhen and Dongguan. A total of about 10,000 workers are employed in the three factories and they each receive a monthly salary of about 1,000 yuan.
Citing a mainland official survey, Mingpao reported that labour-capital conflict has become a major social problem in Shenzhen. Problems of wage arrears, low wages and overtime work are common in factories in Shenzhen and some workers would even have to do an average of 230 hours of overtime work each month.
In 2004, the Shenzhen Petition Department were visited 45,200 times, half of which were related to labour disputes, the reports said.
Sources: Wen Wei Po (4 April 2006), Mingpao (4 April 2006), South China Morning Post (4 April 2006)
4 April 2006
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