On December 12, 2025, Easy Voice Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. announced that due to a decrease in orders, they will fully cancel overtime work exceeding 8 hours per day from November of this year until the end of March 2026. This decision has led to workers’ wages falling below the minimum wage set by the Shenzhen government. Starting on December 4, frontline workers at the company began a large-scale strike demanding compensation, prompting authorities to dispatch a large number of police officers to disperse the crowds.
As of December 11, an informant informed a reporter that the strike is ongoing. Easy Voice intends to transfer a significant portion of its production capacity to Vietnam, where labor costs are lower. Over a thousand workers have gone on strike, with the main goal being compensation and the demand for overtime being secondary.
Media personalities focusing on collective protests in China, such as “YesterdayBigcat” on the X social platform, have uploaded relevant videos and posts regarding the situation. Despite significant pressure from various sources, the protest against Easy Voice’s “covert layoffs” in Shenzhen continued as of Wednesday, December 10. On Tuesday, several workers were arrested by the police. Only after the workers collectively blockaded the factory gate and exerted pressure for a long time were the arrested workers eventually released.
“Yesterday” stated that on Monday, December 8, Easy Voice released a “Supplementary Explanation on Attendance Management,” which stated that individuals who were absent for more than three consecutive days, or a total of four days, or who had been warned in writing three times within a year for violating the company’s human resources management system, would be considered to have resigned automatically without any compensation, attempting to coerce workers to return to work.
Following the release of this statement, some workers, under financial pressure, returned to work. However, many workers continued the strike on Tuesday, gathering near the factory gate to protest. According to workers, authorities deployed a large number of police officers that day in an attempt to forcibly disperse the crowd, leading to the assault and on-the-spot arrest of several activists. Videos from the scene showed that several foreign journalists who were taking pictures were immediately driven off by the police.
That evening, over a thousand angry workers surrounded the factory gate, demanding the immediate release of their detained colleagues. After a prolonged standoff, under pressure from the workers, the authorities eventually released the detained individuals, and the protesting crowd gradually dispersed. As of Wednesday noon, the workers’ strike action is still ongoing.
According to “Yesterday’s” previous report, the catalyst for the major strike was a notice issued by Easy Voice on December 3. The notice attributed a 20% decrease in core customer orders to weak overseas demand and stated that the company would continue to maintain a “five-day eight-hour” work system without any overtime arrangements in the coming months. As compensation, the company only promised a one-time living allowance of 200-300 yuan for employees who did not work overtime in December. On December 4, around 3,000 frontline workers went on strike in protest.
Several workers revealed that since Easy Voice canceled overtime work in October 2025, their take-home pay, after deducting social security and provident fund contributions, has been less than 2,000 yuan per month, even below the statutory minimum wage in Shenzhen. As per the standards implemented by the Shenzhen government on March 1, 2025, the minimum wage for full-time employees shall not be lower than 2,520 yuan per month.
Easy Voice was once a renowned “mega factory” with a large number of female employees. However, with industrial relocation and factory downsizing, there are now only around 3,000 employees left. Many of the former young female workers have entered middle age, bearing heavy family burdens.
Public information indicates that Easy Voice Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. was established on August 17, 2004, mainly engaged in the research and development of broadcast television reception equipment and consumer electronics products, including the production of headphones, speakers, and property management services.
On December 11, an informant informed a reporter that the strike is ongoing, highlighting that “their main goal is to secure relocation compensation. The demand for overtime is because the compensation fee is slightly higher; the reason for continuing the strike is that the company is not yielding. The request for overtime is a secondary demand, and the main one is relocation compensation.”
Easy Voice aims to transfer a significant portion of its production capacity to Vietnam, where labor costs are lower. Upon discovering this plan, workers united to demand compensation. The informant revealed, “If overtime work resumes, compensation must include the overtime pay; otherwise, it will be based on the basic salary (without overtime). The compensation money is the main demand of the workers, averaging several tens of thousands per person. To avoid paying compensation, the company canceled everyone’s overtime work. This allows them to use low wages for a 5-day, 8-hour workweek to push some employees to resign and also reduce the compensation base (calculated based on the average salary in the 12 months before relocation).”
The informant stated that after the overtime cancellation, workers’ take-home pay decreased from over 4,000 yuan to just over 2,000 yuan, “Some workers started connecting, especially some team leaders and foremen, who are long-term employees. If relocation does not come with compensation, the losses would be immense (assuming an average compensation of over 60,000 yuan per person in the team leader role, calculated based on a 10-year work experience period and a monthly salary of 6,000 yuan). Encouraged by proactive colleagues, more and more workers realized the necessity of going on strike.”
The informant further disclosed that the factory has 2,000 workers, with approximately 1,500 participating in the strike. The production department comprises five major sections: MRT, post-welding, front-end, assembly, and packaging. The front-end and assembly are the two largest departments, totaling over 1,000 people. It is known that the assembly department’s foremen are still steadfast in the strike action, with the entire department not resuming work, and most workers are still resisting.
“The majority of the factory workers are long-time employees, with many having worked for over 10 years. They have dedicated their best youth to the factory, and it would be difficult for them to find a good job outside. They hope the factory provides compensation during relocation to ensure the most basic security in the latter half of their lives,” the informant said.