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Saturday, 20 December 2008
Suitcase Makers Locked in Plant to Foil Protest
Guangdong police held hundreds of protesting workers inside a suitcase factory to prevent them staging a public demonstration about a wage dispute yesterday, a labourer in the plant claimed.
Guangdong police held hundreds of protesting workers inside a suitcase factory to prevent them staging a public demonstration about a wage dispute yesterday, a labourer in the plant claimed.
The standoff at Jianrong Suitcase Factory in Dongguan is the latest case of unrest arising from layoffs, poor working conditions and wage cuts on the mainland, where thousands of companies have gone bankrupt in recent months.
More than 30 police officers, some with helmets and riot shields, guarded the front of the factory yesterday.
Workers could be seen pressed up against metal bars at the dormitory’s windows, looking out at the police. About 30 workers were on the roof.
One protest leader, Zhang Guohua, said police had been holding about 300 labourers inside the plant and an adjacent five-storey dormitory since yesterday morning to prevent a public rally.
“One girl tried leaving her dormitory, but was beaten on the head with a metal baton and sent to hospital with serious injuries,” Mr. Zhang said by telephone from inside the dormitory. “They just don’t want us to protest. If we try to leave, they will beat us even more.”
The protest started on Monday outside the factory, he said. But after company officials refused to negotiate on Thursday, the workers went to seek help at the Dongguan city government office, where police beat some of them.
The workers stayed outside the government office overnight, waiting for a resolution, but were forced back to the factory compound in the morning by police officers, dogs and trucks ordered by the local government, he said.
In the early afternoon, about 100 workers pushed their way through the police lines and out of the plant compound, shouting: “We have no human rights here.” Police videotaped the labourers as they gathered in a small alleyway near the factory.
Dai Houxue, one of the workers who escaped, said: “They have locked us up because they don’t want us to have the international media cover our protest.”
Mr. Zhang said about a dozen people were sent to hospital with injuries inflicted by police while they were being forced inside.
More than 7,000 companies in Guangdong, the richest province, closed down or moved elsewhere in the first nine months of the year, China Daily reported.
The factory problems put further pressure on a government trying to maintain social stability in areas where companies have been struggling with rising wages and raw material costs.
Mr. Zhang said the suitcase company ceased operations on Monday and some workers had not been paid for 2-1/2 months.
Those labourers had been told to expect only 60 per cent of their salaries, while those who had been paid would have to return 40 per cent of what they received.
He said his monthly salary was 2,000 yuan (HK$2,280) and other workers earned half that amount.
The local government offered yesterday to pay 60 per cent of their wages for the final month of work, but the workers said no.
Calls to the plant were not answered. Other details about the company were not known.
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Suitcase Makers Locked in Plant to Foil Protest
AP in Dongguan
20 December 2008
Guangdong police held hundreds of protesting workers inside a suitcase factory to prevent them staging a public demonstration about a wage dispute yesterday, a labourer in the plant claimed.
The standoff at Jianrong Suitcase Factory in Dongguan is the latest case of unrest arising from layoffs, poor working conditions and wage cuts on the mainland, where thousands of companies have gone bankrupt in recent months.
More than 30 police officers, some with helmets and riot shields, guarded the front of the factory yesterday.
Workers could be seen pressed up against metal bars at the dormitory’s windows, looking out at the police. About 30 workers were on the roof.
One protest leader, Zhang Guohua, said police had been holding about 300 labourers inside the plant and an adjacent five-storey dormitory since yesterday morning to prevent a public rally.
“One girl tried leaving her dormitory, but was beaten on the head with a metal baton and sent to hospital with serious injuries,” Mr. Zhang said by telephone from inside the dormitory. “They just don’t want us to protest. If we try to leave, they will beat us even more.”
The protest started on Monday outside the factory, he said. But after company officials refused to negotiate on Thursday, the workers went to seek help at the Dongguan city government office, where police beat some of them.
The workers stayed outside the government office overnight, waiting for a resolution, but were forced back to the factory compound in the morning by police officers, dogs and trucks ordered by the local government, he said.
In the early afternoon, about 100 workers pushed their way through the police lines and out of the plant compound, shouting: “We have no human rights here.” Police videotaped the labourers as they gathered in a small alleyway near the factory.
Dai Houxue, one of the workers who escaped, said: “They have locked us up because they don’t want us to have the international media cover our protest.”
Mr. Zhang said about a dozen people were sent to hospital with injuries inflicted by police while they were being forced inside.
More than 7,000 companies in Guangdong, the richest province, closed down or moved elsewhere in the first nine months of the year, China Daily reported.
The factory problems put further pressure on a government trying to maintain social stability in areas where companies have been struggling with rising wages and raw material costs.
Mr. Zhang said the suitcase company ceased operations on Monday and some workers had not been paid for 2-1/2 months.
Those labourers had been told to expect only 60 per cent of their salaries, while those who had been paid would have to return 40 per cent of what they received.
He said his monthly salary was 2,000 yuan (HK$2,280) and other workers earned half that amount.
The local government offered yesterday to pay 60 per cent of their wages for the final month of work, but the workers said no.
Calls to the plant were not answered. Other details about the company were not known.
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