(Image: RedChinaCn.net)
Editors: Birte Zimmer, Xiaoxin Huang, Kevin Slaten
· 5,000 Workers Strike at Via Systems Factory
http://redchinacn.net/portal.php?mod=view&aid=21188
(RedChinaCn.net, 08/22/2014) More than 5,000 workers went on strike over wage and social insurance deductions at a Via Systems factory in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province. The wages were supposed to drop from 3,500 RMB ($569) to 2,800RMB ($456). The strike was started by day shift workers and taken over by the night shift. It came to violent crashes with police and at least six people were arrested. Via Systems is an American company that owns and operates factories in China and elsewhere to produce electronics and mechanical parts.
· New Amendment Released to Raise Fines for Industrial Accidents
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2014-08/31/c_1112299053_4.htm
(Xinhuanet, 08/31/2014) Following the Kunshan explosion, China’s government released a new amendment to the Workplace Safety Law on August 31, raising the fines for industrial accidents to a range from 200,000 RMB ($32,600) to 20 million RMB ($3.26 million). Previous fines were not higher than 100,000RMB ($16,300).
· Sanitation Workers’ Strike for Severance Pay Successfully
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/content/striking-sanitation-workers-guangzhou-force-company-negotiate
(China Labour Bulletin, 09/03/2014) More than 200 sanitation workers from Guangzhou’s University Town started a strike on August 26 related to their expiring contracts at the end of the month. They demanded collective bargaining with their employer, Guangdian Property Services, because the company made them sign blank contracts and refused to provide severance pay. After a week-long strike the workers succeeded on September 2; with help of a local labor rights group and the five democratically-elected worker representatives, they negotiated with the company, which in the end agreed to pay a lump-sum severance pay. The strike rose nationwide attention and support, especially from the university.
· Warehouse Workers on Strike
http://redchinacn.net/portal.php?mod=view&aid=21561
(RedChina, 09/10/2014) More than 160 workers from the Jingdong Shangcheng Qingpu warehouse in Shanghai went on strike because of unpaid relocation compensation. They blocked the main gates to their industrial park. The management threatened a wage deduction of 40% for those workers participating in the strike and said that they would not pay a cent of compensation, even if the wares decay.
· 600 Workers Stop Work to Demonstrate Against Exploitation
http://www.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2014/09/201409061622.shtml
(Boxun, 09/06/2014) Around 600 workers of the Beijing Lianbin Plastics & Printing Co., Ltd. started a sit-in strike on September 5. Workers demonstrated against their exploitation at the workplace and demanded fair compensations for night shifts and work under high temperature conditions. The factory belongs to Taiwanese investors and was founded in 1999. It produces and prints covers and bags which are sold all over the world, mainly to the USA and Europe.