Shanghai Automotive workers protest layoffs, clash with police on severance

Hundreds of employees at an automotive trim company in Shanghai protested by blocking a major highway in the city, in response to plans for widespread layoffs.

According to a Radio Free Asia report, workers from the state-owned Shanghai Guoli Automotive Leather Decoration Co on Wednesday. clashed with police as traffic piled up on the Husong Highway, with video footage of the confrontation shared on social media. At least one worker was taken into custody by the police, causing other workers to shout and become involved in the altercation.

The protests began after employees received a notice on October 9 offering a severance of three months' minimum wage to anyone who voluntarily resigned, totalling 8,070 yuan (approximately USD 1,113).

 

According to social media posts from individuals claiming to be employees of the company, the "voluntary resignations" were not truly voluntary. The company had referred to the layoff offer as "generous," as reported by a citizen journalist, "Mr Li is not your teacher" on X.

Workers argued that they are entitled to three months' compensation based on their average wage over the past 12 months.

This dispute is part of a growing wave of visible labour conflicts amid China's struggling post-lockdown economy. A quarterly report from Freedom House, based in Washington DC, revealed a 27 per cent increase in dissent events between July 1 and September 30.

The China Dissent Monitor, which tracks such events, noted a rise in protests by consumers and investors in response to the sluggish economy. The report also highlighted that, although many grievances stem from the actions of private companies, nearly 40 per cent of these protests call for government intervention.

An official from the complaints division of the local Qibao township government confirmed on Wednesday that workers at the Shanghai plant had conflicted with their employer since October.

A representative from the Qibao township police department stated that authorities would not get involved in the labor dispute, except to prevent people from obstructing the highway. Song Baowei, head of the factory's branch of the official Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions, told Radio Free Asia that the union is currently looking into the causes of Wednesday's protest.

In recent interviews with RFA, workers frequently cited long working hours, low wages, and a lack of avenues to defend their rights as their main grievances. Labour activists argue that a significant issue is the absence of a strong culture of contractual responsibility in corporate China, as well as the lack of a dependable system for resolving labour disputes.

All official trade unions in China are government-controlled, and the authorities often use force to suppress workers who organize through unofficial unions. The Hong Kong-based non-profit China Labour Bulletin reports that, over the past month, there have been hundreds of protests across the country, primarily driven by workers protesting unpaid wages.

On Tuesday, numerous construction workers in Wuhan staged a protest over unpaid wages, while a similar protest took place on Monday in Hangzhou, where dozens of apparel factory workers demonstrated for the same reason. These events were reported on the Bulletin's Strike Map, which tracks labour disputes across China based on online sources.

On November 16, video footage posted on the video-sharing platform Douyin showed delivery workers in Guangdong province protesting unpaid wages. According to the Bulletin's Strike Map, China experienced a surge in strikes and protests during the first half of 2024, with over 719 collective actions recorded between January 1 and June 30.

A search for labour disputes in the past month revealed over 800 results on Friday, indicating a continued rise in industrial conflicts. In the automotive sector, workers have increasingly protested reductions in working hours and the failure to pay economic compensation, according to a report from the Bulletin dated September 19.

The report highlighted that many factories in the sector are laying off workers unwilling to relocate and seeking ways to avoid honouring contracts. "To evade compensation, some companies shut down operations without officially closing the factory and pressured workers into resigning voluntarily," the report stated.