More than 10 Workers Detained after Rowdy Protest Against Unfair Overtime by Several Hundred Guangdong Shoe Factory Employees

Starting on 21 April 2004, workers at the “Stella” and “Selena” production facilities of the Xinxiong Shoe Factory in Dalingshan Town in Dongguan city, Guangdong province, held a strike in protest at new overtime policies announced by the factory management. According to sources the strike lasted until 23 April, and was in response to the factory’s decision to change the workers’ overtime shift from the weekend to weekdays – a plan which would result in a reduced salary for the majority of the workers.

Ten workers are reported to have been detained after the strike, which according to the company management deteriorated into a violent fracas. The Xinxiong factory is believed to be partly funded or operated by a Taiwanese manufacturer, Konho Sports Goods Co., Ltd.

The PRC Labour Law states that any overtime worked during a weekend is to be compensated at double the rate of ordinary work, while overtime performed on weekdays is to be paid at only 50 percent above the normal rate. The Xinxiong factory workers believed that the company’s management had changed their overtime arrangements in an attempt to reduce salary costs while asking the workers to work the same amount of hours or longer.

According to sources interviewed by CLB, workers angry at the company’s decision broke some of the machines and utensils in the Stella factory canteen. According to a statement by the Stella factory management, however, angry workers injured several managers, overturned two police vehicles, and “destroyed company property worth $350,000 USD.”

In a telephone interview, an official from the local township government informed CLB that the Taiwanese-invested shoe factory employed more than 4,000 workers under very harsh working conditions, and that the strike was an almost inevitable outbreak of collective anger against the management. Separately, CLB learned from a junior manager at the Xinxiong facilities that the majority of workers there, despite national regulations to the contrary, were being denied pension and medical insurance. Only the senior managers enjoyed these entitlements. The junior manager added that production line workers worked for six days a week, with Sunday as a rest day. Average wages for the workforce were reported to be no more than 500 Yuan (US$60) for an average working week of 60 hours.

On 29 April, a sergeant from the nearby Dalingshan town Public Security Bureau confirmed to CLB that ten workers involved in the strike action had been taken in for “administrative detention” – an apparent reference to police powers under which minor offenders can be sentenced without trial to up to 15 days in police custody

30 April 2004