Friday, August 14, 2015
NEW YORK - Workers at Dongguan Baoxing Electronics have been on strike for multiple days to demand compensation after the company announced it would relocate operations to another district in Dongguan.
During the demonstration, workers held up a banner directly mentions Samsung as a Baoxing client. An online company profile also mentions that Baoxing, a Korean-invested company, is a supplier to brand companies that include Nokia, LG, Samsung, Fengda, and Coolpad. The factory is located in the Hengkeng Sanhe Industrial Park of Dongguan’s Liaobu Township.
China Labor Watch (CLW) sent an investigator to the scene of the factory yesterday. Workers said that on August 7, Baoxing announced in a management meeting that the company’s operations would move to another location in Dongguan’s Chashan area. This information quickly reached workers on the production line. Both team leaders and workers did not agree with the planned move. On August 10, team leaders mobilized workers, telling them to clock in, stop work, and use the day to prepare for a strike action.
On the next day, workers clocked in again and proceeded to carry a sit-in in the factory dormitory’s cafeteria. Despite rain on August 11, workers continued to demonstrate with banners, demanding compensation from management.
On August 12, workers climbed up to the roof of the production building, holding a banner that read “Samsung’s supplier BSE peddles human rights. Give me back my human rights. Give me compensation.” The workers’ action gained the attention of local police, who arrived at the plant to mediate. The management at this point told workers that there would not be a relocation.
On August 13, a worker representative, who is also a low-level supervisor, told CLW that Baoxing workers went on strike because they feared they would be left without any compensation as the company moved. Many workers have been at Baoxing for seven or eight years, she said, and many people have not received full insurance contributions during that time. She said that she herself only had a 100 RMB ($16) contribution for insurance taken out of her monthly wages, which is less than the minimum required by regulations. The factory also did not provide monthly housing fund contributions as required by law, she said.
This worker representative expressed that the way in which Baoxing notified workers of the relocation was very sudden. She said that if the factory moved, she would not move with it because it’s too far from her current residence. Without compensation, she would be out of a job.
Still striking on August 13, workers told CLW they do not trust that the company has changed its position on the relocation.