Yue Yuen counts cost of China shoe strike, says most workers returned
Yue Yuen estimates cost of two-week industrial dispute at around US$27 million as workers return after government says company will make-up social security contributions
Most of the thousands of shoe factory workers who staged one of China’s biggest strikes have returned to work after the company agreed to some of their core demands.
Hong Kong-listed Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings – a US$5.6 billion manufacturer of footwear for Nike, Adidas and other international leisure brands – said that more than 80 per cent of the workers at its Dongguan factory returned to work. Three workers at the vast complex in southern China had on Friday estimated that more than half, maybe as many as 70 per cent, of the 40,000-strong workforce had gone back to work.
Labour activists say the two-week strike has been one of China’s biggest since market reforms started in the late 1970s, prompting German sportswear firm Adidas to shift some orders to suppliers elsewhere in China. A spokesman for Nike said the company was watching the situation closely.
In its statement late on Friday, Yue Yuen estimated the direct cost of the strike at around US$27 million.
Workers went on strike on April 14 to protest against what they said were chronically low company contributions to state-mandated social insurance and housing provident fund accounts.
