MCLC: Yue Yuen shoe strike

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Martin Winter <dujuan99 at gmail.com>
Subject: Yue Yuen shoe strike
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Interesting. As the name suggests, Want China Times is very much on the
pro-China side in Taiwan. Here they are reporting on resistance in China
against a big Taiwan company.

Martin

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Source: Want China Times (4/21/14):
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20140421000013&cid=
1103

Yue Yuen shoe strike expands from Guangdong to Jiangxi

A week after 30,000 workers from the Yue Yuen shoe factory in Dongguan
in southern China's Guangdong province took to the streets over invalid
contracts, 2,000 workers from another of the company's factories,
located in Ji'an in eastern China's Jiangxi province, have also joined
the strike, reports the Hong Kong-based Oriental Daily.

Operated by the Taiwan-based Pou Chen Group, the Yue Yuen factory in
Dongguan's Gaobu township is one of the biggest shoe factories in China
and produces footwear for more than 30 top brands such as Nike, Adidas
and Reebok. The factory currently employs more than 60,000 workers.

The protest began on Apr. 14 when workers found out that the factory had
failed to pay its employees their full social security and housing fund
contributions.

A senior factory worker surnamed Li told the web portal Nanfang that he
was unable to use his permanent work contract as evidence of local
residence in order to enroll his child in a local school because he was
told his contract was not legally binding. Migrant workers like Li must
present documents which prove to the local authority that they and their
family members have stayed in the province for at least five years
before their children are allowed to study in the area.

In addition to the invalid contracts, the factory also cheated its
workers in regards to their insurance packages, with some having to pay
40,000 yuan (US$6,400) while others only had to pay 10,000 yuan
(US$1,600) for the same scheme. Following these issues coming to light,
workers decided to strike to demand that the factory sign new contracts
with them and improve their working conditions.

So far, the factory has arranged a round of negotiations with the
strikers, however a consensus has yet to be reached.

Following the action of their counterparts in Dongguan, 2,000 workers
from Ji'an decided to down tools in protest over unfair treatment on
Apr. 20. The protest has remained peaceful but many of the workers have
expressed anti-Taiwanese sentiment, the Oriental Daily said, adding that
protesters have demanded that their Taiwanese supervisors leave the
country.