Chinese workers: More than 1000 strikes since mid-2011

Chinese blue collars at IBM Shenzhe factory: "workers are not a commodity", and "Give us back our respect".

More than 1,000 workers walked off the job last week at the factory in Shenzhen, bordering Hong Kong, after managers on March 3 announced the terms of their transfer to new ownership under Chinese PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd. IBM  Shenzhen factory blue collars protest against their American company being sold to Chinese group Lenovo that already control the former IBM PC division.

IBM said last week the terms offered to the workers at the factory in Shenzhen were “comparable in aggregate to what they currently are receiving” and severance packages would be “equitable”. Lenovo has declined to comment.

Last November 2013 Nokia Chinese workers went on strike in Dongguan when they learn their factory was sold to Microsoft. Technology has helped China's workers. When the Nokia factory employees took to the street, they organized through the online chat system QQ and other social media.

 

In the IBM case, the workers had all read about prior strikes, including Nokia's, and suspected ahead of time that they might have to make a similar stand. n both cases - and many others, experts say - the impetus for a strike was underpinned by the fact that the factory branch of the state-backed union was seen as a farce. The state-backed All-China Federation of Trade Unions and its affiliates have a reputation for being ineffectual and often siding with management. The absence of communication channel make labor disputes unavoidable.

Chinese workers are quicker to object if they think their leagl rights are being abused. Accordng to China Labor Bulletin, non-profit Hong Kong-based organization. More than 1000 strikes have been recorded in mailand China since mid-2011. Workers staged protests when they were cheated out of their wages and overtime payments, when their bonuses and benefits were cut back, and when the boss refused to pay the social insurance premiums mandated by law. They also went on strike to demand higher pay, equal pay for equal work and proper employment contract. In 20% of the cases, the police intervened sometimes violently.

Although the Chinese authorities often delete Protests images in social media, they are less prone to censor when the factoy owner is a foreign company. The workers were filmed singing "running dog" when a Chinese manager emerged from the factory to speak, drowning out his words.

During the Cultural Revolution,  "running dog" (走狗 zougou that is to say a lackey, a stooge, a servile follower) was a popular  insult for the Chinese accused of betraying their country by supporting foreign ideas or institutions.

In the IBM case, the "running dog" insult is awkward because the new owner is a Chinese company... Interestingly, IBM blue collers don't seem that happy to belong to national Champion Lenovo, the pride of China.

Chloé Ascencio

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/business/international/chinese-workers-at-ibm-factory-on-strike-amid-company-sale.html?_r=0