Workers at appliance-maker, Xinfei Electric Co. Ltd ended a four day strike on 12 October after management agreed to their demands for higher pay, better benefits and management reforms, the mainstream Chinese media reported today.
The dispute started on 9 October with several hundred employees gathering outside the company quarters in Xinxiang, Henan demanding a better pay deal. As the protest gained more momentum, more demands were added to the list of long-standing grievances and eventually the workers presented a detailed eight-point list of demands.
On the afternoon of 12 October, management held a press conference at which it reportedly acceded to the workers’ eight demands. Management promised to immediately raise salaries by 300 yuan to 1,500 yuan a month, and increase workers’ salaries again by another 200 yuan in January 2013.
Improvements in overtime and holiday pay were also agreed to and the company promised to remove two of the managers workers had blamed for the factory’s poor performance this year. Former executives, who the workers approved, of would return to the Singapore-invested company, Sina reported.
It is relatively unusual in labour disputes for all the workers’ demands to be accepted and the Xinfei workers were understandably pleased with their success. One employee told Sina: “This is a preliminary victory for us workers. Although it is not a big achievement, it does show the strength of the workers. We were successful; our unity got a big thumbs-up.”
Many manufacturers have or are in the process of relocating from the coastal regions to the interior of China in a bid to cut costs. However, the Xinfei strike, and the wage demands in particular, show that workers in inland provinces such as Henan still will not accept low wages and benefits even if the cost of living is generally lower than in the coastal provinces.