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600 Hungry, Angry Chinese Workers "Sleep On The Street" After CEO Disappears With Their Wages
Over the past year many have been focusing on the collapse in commodity prices and speculating how this will impact China's rapidly slowing economy (and reflexively, how much of this is driven by China's rapidly slowing economy). They may be focusing on the wrong thing.
Because while it is now a virtual certainly that China's commodity sector will undergo a wave on unprecedented business failures, which should (but may not) be accompanied by a default wave unlike anything China has seen before (quite literally: until last year, China had never seen an actual corporate default, as the government would always step in and bail out the debtor) a scarier prospect emerges when looking at what has been the biggest risk factor for China since day one, and the reason why China's economy has to keep growing at 7% every year just to absorb the millions of new workers every year: an angry population, and millions of workers who suddenly see their wages plunge - or are left without a job - and turn violent on short notice.
We got a taste of this in September when we reported that as part of China's coal industry collapse, a company in northern China had just engaged in the biggest mass layoff in China's history when it fired 100,000 overnight, 40% of its entire workforce. Then, a month ago, we reported that "Thousands Of Angry Unpaid Chinese Workers Protest Shocking Bankruptcy Of Major Telecom Supplier."
Now, thanks to Radio Free Asia, we find that as the tide goes out in China, things are going from bad to worse.
According to the Chinese website, in the latest confirmation that China's Politburo is getting far more nervous than it will admit, hundreds of workers at a Hong Kong-owned toy factory in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen have been protesting since last week after the owner "disappeared," leaving their wages unpaid.
Workers at the Shanghe Jianming Toy Factory in the city's Bao'an district first discovered that their Hong Kong boss, identified only by his surname Deng, was nowhere to be found, they told RFA.
"Some people are sleeping out on the street next to the factory gates, or in the road, and many are hungry," a worker surnamed Shen told RFA.
Instead of tracking down the boss and finding why he "absconded" with all his employees' unpaid wages, "The police sent a lot of people to surround the workers."
Photos of the scene seen by RFA showed rows of people sleeping on sheets of cardboard by a factory wall, and rows of police guarding a street with barriers placed on it.
An official who answered the phone at the Bao'an district labor bureau said the local authorities had sent a team to the factory to listen to the workers' complaints.
"The mood of the workforce has stabilized now, and they have gone back inside the factory gates," the official said. "Our leaders and government officials are there too, dealing with the situation."
According to Shen, many workers are owed overtime and severance pay under Chinese labor law. "Some people have been working here for more than a decade, and they should get severance, but they haven't received it," he said.
Alas, they won't receive it because the money is all gone: a worker who gave only a nickname A Quan said the workers had realized something was amiss when they spotted the factory's remaining management team selling off raw materials on the quiet.
"Somebody saw them, and grabbed them," A Quan said. "They were selling off the raw materials so [we think] they definitely knew that the boss had already absconded."
Workers have also marched to municipal government headquarters since their factory boss failed to appear at work on Thursday.
"We went to the Shenzhen municipal government from here in Bao'an," Shen said. "We marched over there on foot; some people even fainted. By the time we arrived there, it was dark, and we didn't manage to meet with anyone."
What's worse, there appears to have been massive fraud involved before the disappearance of the CEO who had a "full order book" before he left: "Shen said workers are highly suspicious of their boss' motives for leaving, as the order book was full before his departure."
"We were all doing overtime every day, and we had to work without a break," Shen said. "[We think the overtime pay] is why the boss ran away; it had nothing to do with the health of the business."
Sorry Shen, but it is precisely the health of the business why your boss deserted you with your unpaid wages.
Meanwhile, the government is quietly seeking to resolve this unpleasant situation doing what it does best: sweeping everything under the rug.
[Shen] said demonstrations by several hundred workers on Monday had prompted promises of a 2,000 yuan payout from the government, requiring a signature, for each worker, although many people are suspicious that this might mean renouncing any other claim on the company.
"They said they'd give us 2,000 yuan just so we have something to live on, but we don't know how they will deal with the salary that is owed us," Shen said.
"We had to sign for it and have our photo taken, like criminals, and they covered up the document that we were signing so we couldn't see what it was," he said, adding that most people had refused to sign.
According to workers, there is no sign that the factory is closing down. "The place is a mess, and the boss still has some containers parked there," Shen said.
Of course, a boss who is about to disappear and leave his company and his workers to fend on their own will do just that: not leave a single trace that he is about to disappear.
* * *
This story reveals a troubling trend: China's workers are becoming increasingly unhappy.
As RFA notes, "China has seen 1,723 industrial disputes since the beginning of the year, 267 of which have been clustered in the once-booming manufacturing regions of Guangdong, the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin said."
The ruling Chinese Communist Party-backed All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is charged with protecting workers' rights, but independent labor groups and workers say it has a poor track record when it comes to negotiating with management and government officials.
Meanwhile, rights groups say police are increasingly employing criminal charges as a means of silencing peaceful activism on almost any topic. Because the last thing the Politburo wants is for China's hundreds of millions of ever more unhappy workers is to realize that they are not alone, and that other are taking matters into their own hands as a result of a shift in leverage from employers to employees.
Authorities in Guangdong are currently holding independent labor activist Liu Shaming, 57, on suspicion of subversion after he campaigned for workers' rights, his lawyer told RFA on Tuesday.
Lawyer Wu Kuiming said Liu's detention on charges of "incitement to subvert state power" is the result of a top-down crackdown on non-government organizations (NGOs) in recent months."
It's partly because he was active in promoting labor rights ... but also because he wrote a diary of his experience of the June 4, 1989 [massacre]," Wu told RFA.
Fellow labor activist Peng Jiayong said Liu had been denied visits from friends or lawyers in the first five months of his detention, and that the charges against him are likely to be a form of political revenge.
"Liu Shaming helped the workers to negotiate with the factory management successfully, so that they were awarded compensation," Peng said. "Maybe somebody wants revenge."
Maybe. Or maybe someone just wants to keep China's rising worker dissent and anger quiet.
For now that may be working, however, as the following interactive map of all Chinese labor strikes since 2011 courtesy of the China Labor Bullettin shows, China's worker anger is rapidly building: after virtually no strikes (just 121) in 2011, we have seen a surge in strike activity, which is set to double from the 1,000 in 2014 to just below 2,000 as of early November, and rising exponentially.
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All your wage are belong to us.
Sum Ting Wong.
Ho Lee Fuk
Mo Nee Gan.
Just print some Yuan out of thin air and give it to them, problem solved.
Then, print some more and fund the utopian future.
I'd prefer a fallopian future.
So I guess Elves don't make all the Christmas toys.
Or are the Chinese actually Elves?
They make toys, don't get paid, and the fat bastard running the joint flies off yelling Ho Ho Ho.............
pods
See what happens, see what happens Larry when WMT gives out higher wages?
See what happens LARRY!
At least the corrupt CEOs in China run away in shame. In the US they become celebrities.
Until the end of WWII US capital was a war with its own workforce, literally. Workers were massacred in pitched battles with police. China's "commhnist" leadershipcan only hope that a few decades from now Chinese workers are complete zombies like Americans are today.
Until the end of WWII US capital was a war with its own workforce, literally. Workers were massacred in pitched battles with police. China's "communist" leadership can only hope that a few decades from now Chinese workers are complete zombies like Americans are today.
Merry Xmas fuckers
owner disappers....lol, guess another house in San Marino California just sold for $7 million dollars!!!
one more thought....I like Chinese people even though, many ZH'ers don't seem to be too fond of them. People "on the ground" in China are good hard working people.
However, Chiense people need to realize....America is being drained of it's wealth as it stacks up debt and buys mountains of useless crap. I fully support the Chinese who are involved in the making of crap that gets sold at Wal-mart...but this is NOT a long term strategy for China. Our money is running out, so if you're employed in one of these businesses that makes cheap stuff......I would start looking to diversify your employment.
You may be poor working for yourself, but you never feel like a sucker.
Chinese labor law. "Some people have been working here for more than a decade, and they should get severance, but they haven't received it,"
So, let's go back to their most recently published, and independently audited, financial statement, to see if the appropriate encumbrances had been made for anticipated severance pay liabilities. OH WAIT!!
Waat Wi Du Now!
Ahh you wei-jah ahh be-ron-ga to uht!
LOL, wonder if he ended up buying one of those multimillion dollar homes in California.
Vancouver or California ... exactly what I was thinking.
Vancouver. Our new boy-king loves the Chinese.
He bought that 400 sf San Fransisco shack that was built in 1926.
The bankers know where the money went.
"She's so fine; there's no tellin' where the money went!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrGw_cOgwa8
Can't they eat wish sandwiches or ricochet bisquits? Bow bow bow
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=rubber+biscuit+lyrics
The Politburo better establish a strike compensation fund if they want to stay in power. Or shift blame to America or Japan.
A poor economy leads to dissent and threatens the leadership. Maybe, a skirmish in the South China Sea will divert the unhappy populace
"Maybe, a skirmish in the South China Sea will divert the unhappy populace"
The timing is quite a coincidence no? Orwell says it works every time... what's a good distraction for Obama is also good for Jinping & friends. Plus it takes the heat off of Obama's and Jinping's bankster overlords.
I always hear about how wise and moral the Chinese are... Hmm
Really? Would that be the guy from the chinese restaurant that's trying to sell you rat by telling you it's Happy smoked duck?
Rat or Cat?
If his wife is wearing a "mink" coat, it's cat.
If he's wearing a "suede" vest, it's rat.
But the point is: SMOKED DUCKS AREN'T HAPPY AT ALL!!
+1 for the comedic value :) now back to work.
And how much smarter and patient that the rest of us.
Who was the boss? Hu Flung Cum? He didn't seem patient at all.
And the workers didn't seem too bright to trust Hu Flung Cum.
Blaming the victims? You must sell financial products.
Unless the job's doing something sketchy, it'd seem about the same as any other place to work.
Much of hell is self-created.
600 month wages in china... so that's about 12K....
that guy isn't going that far I think...
deng is just another chinese success story
The best they could do was sit there and be quiet with that dumb ass look on their faces? They have them trained well.
Peacefull protests :) ONLY IN AMERICA AND CHINA!!! SUCKERS!!
Is there not any cake for them to eat Maria?
I say the protesters outweigh the ( cough ) peace officers, bum rush the pricks. It always amazed me even with a vast number of protesters on one side and so few ( cough ) peace officers they always seems to maintain some sort of order.
Must be the brain washing control thing....
Contrary to corporatist propaganda, most protesters are there to publicize their cause. If there's violence, it's the cops overreacting, provoking, attacking, or otherwise causing it. The protesters generally maintain order.
True...
More like the automatic weapons.
We live in some messed up times. I don't know how they're kept a lid on things as long as they have. It feels like the whole world wants to come apart at the seems.
It almost seems like a hand full of very rich individuals are hell bent
on fucking over the rest of us.
The only difference between this CEO and his American colleague being that if the CEO is actually found, the Chinese government will actually execute the fucker.
They will execute someone who resembles him. I can't tell the difference between one and the next.
Can you?
Small comfort when you consider the government is in on all the scams and graft.
Umbrella Revolution 2.0 kickstart
But, but, but... Mittens Romney said the owners were job creators. Why doesn't he just wave his hand and create more jobs?
No need to the shovel ready ones are working out great....Oh wait.
I am guessing the chinese government, worried about letting the cronyism out of the bag, will hunt down this CEO and kill him
Watching WS?
The Chinese government doesn't like this kind of crap one bit. That guy gets caught, his ass is incense.
Looks like they need to start burning factories and public buildings down. Capital destructions works pretty well. The blacks tried it in the 60's here in America and it worked pretty well (I remember seeing parts of Baltrimore after the 1968 riots). Lots of affirmative action legiislation in the late 60's and early 70's after the riots. The elite do not like major fires and the resulting insurance mess. Besides, no restrictions on the purchase of gas, bottles, rags, and matches. Molotov cocktails are pretty good weapons of mass destruction.
It was only 25 years ago that the Chinese government had tanks in the streets pushing back protesters. The government HASN'T CHANGED since then.
If you think the Chinese people can go on a mass looting and burning spree like in the US, you are VERY mistaken. The army will simply fire live ammo AT the looters. After a few thousand people are killed, end of demonstrations.
my son is dating some chicom billionaire's daughter, she's staying in LA
Silly protestors.
If the CEO stole enough he will probablty be awarded a government job.
600 workers is just a group on standby in china
Has anyone checked with Mr. Chen? Deng is probably transferring the money out of the country.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-28/need-smuggle-10-million-out-chi...
Deng is a recent graduate of the Jon Corzine School of Business Ethics.
They got the money, hey
You know they got away
They headed down south and they're still running today
Singin' go on take the money and run
go on take the money and yuan..
So if everyone gets payed like 1$ an hour in china, and the 600 workers worked about 50 hours a week.
The boss ran off with anywhere between 100Grand and 400 Grand depending how much workers are worth in China.
Foxcon pays less than 2$ an hour per worker to assemble Iphones and Xbox units lol so.... im pretty sure the margin on plastic toys is going to be thinner.
Shit man If I was getting payed 2$ an hour id quit and set the factory on fire one night, where is the incentive?
The workers should start farming and burn the factories down.
The choice is clear to me....
Farming in an open field or Working in a factory assembling ShitIphones breathing in mercury vapor....
The tomatoes you will pick from farming are worth more than your wages in a factory, each tomato is like atleast 10cents... in value... the average plant will be worth anywhere between 10$ and 30$ I grew about 500$ worth of produce in my backyard by accident this year alone, I could probably retire in China with that lol
Must of been those damn Union thugs demanding 2 hour lunches and weekly raises again... What else can an honest CEO do except rip off everyone to maintain shareholder value?
I had these thoughts the other day.
Americans love their Chinese made crap.
Chinese factory complexes are modern slave plantations.
Would Americans mind if their stuff was manufactured at actual slave plantations as long as those plantations aren't in the US?
If iCrap could be bought for $100 per toy and they way to do it was to allow Foxconn to set up their plantation on American soil, import the workers, and keep wages, etc the same, would it be allowed?
Is illegal immigration allowed by US government been a form of slavery since 1865? Slaves freed, then Irish brought in, then Italians, then Jews, then Cubans, then Southeast Asians, then Mexicans, then the rest of Central Americans, etc.
copper, palladium, oil, lumber and forgodssake coffee...are all sucking lows. Unless the future will be built of unicorn feathers by elves who never get drowsy...I don't see much 'production' in our near future.
...I also do not see a lot of debt getting paid.
...I see dead people....or at least a dead economy.
The dollar unfortunately has to go. It is the dollar itself that is the problem. It is a debt soaked old rag that has lost its ability to function as a medium of exchange on a global basis.
They just want their toothbrushes back from the factory dormatory.
Now you know why Vancouver real estate is so damn expensive.
To rich Chinese, t's a lot cheaper than paying debts.
As I type this Mr. Deng is assuredly taking a long lunch at a fine Gastown eatery, checking the news from the Middle Kingdom, reading of his former employees' plight, and having a good snicker at their expense.
"Glanvirre I-ran!"
"You sure sir? It's lunchtime and this would be your fourth..."
"GLANVIRRE I-LAN!"
You have to sign it before you can find out what's it in??? Western and Eastern ways are merging; screw the muppets.
Well, at least he is smarter than that billionaire tata who jumped off the building.
but, but, but, this is free market Capitalism, and the boss is always free to run off to other free markets so he can increase his profits. Bankruptcy can be even more profitable than sticking around to pay bills that may exceed the profits if the business is actually experiencing less demand for products. With the advent of Christmas markets, and toy manufacturing peak productivity, it would seem logical for the boss to bug out with all the cash he can stuff in his car just before the selloff Christmas season. All the front money was already in coffers given that we are only really a month away from the last day to buy a toy before Christmas. He likely planned his getaway months in advance.
How do you say Merry Christmas in Mandarin?
The toys would have already been made by now and on the boat to be in stores by Christmas. The boss probably ran the factory like crazy and shipped, got paid for the crap that went out, and shafted the workers on wages. Also screwed raw materials providers and everyone else. THe guy is long gone. WHere who knows.
Will never get more amazed at blindsided-ness and hubris of this country, our country's government is stealing away trillions of dollars worth of dues from its aging and veterans, companies like HP is stealing wages from 30,000 people plus just before thanks giving. As a nation we have not only taken away living wages, but lives of millions of people worldover, still we feel comfortable telling, no, WARNING other world governments to worry 600 people having their wages stolen?? Do we have the moral high ground to do that? Or we should at corner of our heart fear what can happen to us?