Thousands Of Workers Protest At Sanyo’s China Plant

Thousands Of Workers Protest At Sanyo's China Plant

Thousands of Chinese workers protesting over compensation and job security at a Sanyo Electric Co Ltd plant clashed with police in southern Shenzhen, the latest outbreak of labor unrest in China's manufacturing hub.

About 4,000 workers protested over the weekend at the Sino-Japanese joint venture, the Chinese-language Oriental Daily reported. Sing Tao Daily and the People.com.cn website put the number at over 3,000.

Sing Tao Daily quoted an employee as saying that workers feared they would not receive any compensation after Sanyo and Panasonic Corp integrated their businesses this month.

A Panasonic spokesman in Tokyo said there had been a strike on Saturday at a Shenzhen factory that makes parts for audio speakers, but that production had returned to normal on Sunday.

The strike was sparked by the integration of the two companies, said spokesman Akira Kadota but he added that the exact nature of workers' demands was not clear, though the company was continuing to negotiate.

Hong Kong media also reported that about 2,000 workers protested at a factory in Jiangxi province owned by Changhe Auto, a unit of Changan Auto.

Workers were concerned about compensation and benefits after the parent company sold off Changhe's brand, the Oriental Daily said.

Posted by James Fried on Tuesday January 17 2012, 4:29 AM EDT. Ref: CNN. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Finance. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0