China’s supplier to Adidas and Nike – The strike spreads

A strike at a Chinese factory that manufactures shoes for Adidas and Nike has spread to a sister factory in a neighbouring province, as thousands of workers gathered to protest against what they said were unfair pay and benefits. 

About 2,000 workers clocked in on Monday, but did not work, at the Yue Yuen factory complex in Jiangxi province, southern China, joining at least 10,000 employees at another Yue Yuen factory complex in Dongguan, Guangdong province, who have been on strike since 14 April.

Up to 30,000 employees have stopped working in the strike – China’s largest in recent memory, according to the New York-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) China Labour Watch.

“The issue that [the workers] are concerned about is very widespread,” said Geoff Crothall of the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin, another NGO. “In this case, at least the company was paying something, it just wasn’t the full amount. In other cases we’ve seen, workers are getting nothing at all.

“A lot of this has to do with the fact that a lot of factories are closing down or relocating, or changing ownership … Five years ago, [strikes] were all about wage increases. But the focus of workers’ concerns now is very much on what happens if the factory closes down. What kind of payments do we get? Do we get the social insurance that we’re legally entitled to?”

via Strike spreads at Chinese supplier to Adidas and Nike | World news | theguardian.com.