Vincent Kolo, chinaworker.info

Around 400 workers at Singapore-owned Hi-P International, an electronics manufacturer, are continuing their strike in the Pudong district of Shanghai. With negotiations hitting a wall, police have taken a tough line against the strikers. A dozen strikers were arrested yesterday (6 December) and workers have complained of police beatings earlier in the dispute, which has now lasted for eight days.

The company, which makes components for companies such as Apple, HP, Blackberry (RIM) and Motorola, is relocating the factory to a remote suburb of the city. Many among the predominantly female workforce do not want to move and are demanding their legal right to compensation from the company.

“We work long shifts, sometimes over 20 hours. Even with a company shuttle bus, the new factory will mean an hour and a half’s travelling every day, so we won’t have any time left to rest,” said one migrant worker from Sichuan.

“Most of us have been working at this factory for many years, so we should be properly compensated if they want to break our contracts,” she told the South China Morning Post.

“They are moving the factory but I don’t want to go there,” a worker surnamed Zhang told Reuters. “Now they just don’t want to compensate us. They do not want to even give us a single cent.”

China Worker

Over 200 women electronics workers continue their strike in defiance of hard line tactics (video)

chinaworker.info reporters

As
reported on chinaworker.info several hundred women workers have been on
strike for almost two weeks at Singapore-owned Hi-P International’s
factory in the Pudong district of Shanghai. The workers are fighting the
company’s plans to relocate to another factory, leaving those workers
who cannot move without compensation despite years of service.

Police
have taken a tough line against the strikers, with a dozen strikers
arrested earlier this week and reports of police beatings last week.
This Reuters video includes an interview with one of the strikers.