A serious labor dispute has erupted at a well-known Hong Kong-funded manufacturing enterprise in Fuqing, Fujian Province. Since June 17th, more than a hundred employees of the Xiangxing (Fujian) Luggage Group have been on strike for three consecutive days, demanding the release of 10 months’ worth of unpaid wages and protesting against the company’s sudden wage cuts, increased workload, lack of subsidies for working in high temperatures, and poor dormitory conditions.
An anonymous female employee at the factory told a reporter from The Epoch Times that this strike is the largest in scale in recent years. “Workers are chanting slogans like ‘Give us our hard-earned money’ and ‘We are not beasts of burden’, demanding that the company’s senior management come to the negotiating table,” she said. On the evening of June 19th, the company made its first response by promising to release one month’s wages in advance, but most workers did not accept it, and the strike continues.
Video footage provided by the workers shows hundreds of female workers gathering in front of the Fuqing Municipal Government building, some entering the government office to demand officials address the issue of the company withholding wages from its employees. The estimated number of participants in the protest is at least over a hundred. On Douyin (TikTok), workers directly left comments for the Communist Party Secretary of Fuqing City, stating, “The company has not paid wages for six months. We have elderly parents and young children to support, some even have mortgages and car loans, hoping to resolve the issue.”
Another female employee who has worked at the factory for over ten years told the reporter that she and her colleagues work more than 12 hours a day, yet their salaries keep decreasing. “This is the second strike this year. The company requires us to work overtime for more than ten hours every day but doesn’t pay us. We’ve approached the labor bureau multiple times, but no one takes action because this company is a major taxpayer in Fuqing.”
The Xiangxing Group was established in 1992 in Fuqing City through a joint venture between Hong Kong Donghui International and China Luggage Group, and is one of the longest-standing export-oriented leading enterprises in the area. The group owns brands like HIGHLAND and SWISSWIN with products sold to over 80 countries globally, producing over 80 million bags annually with a total workforce of over 3,000 employees. However, with the recent contraction in overseas trade orders, the company’s operations are facing challenges.
When the reporter contacted the Xiangxing Group’s office to inquire about the strike situation, the person on the other end of the line said that the “matter is being handled,” and promptly hung up the phone.
Efforts to reach the Fuqing City Government office by phone were unsuccessful as there was no answer for a significant period.
An unnamed workshop supervisor at the company admitted that the company is indeed facing financial pressures, stating that “over the past six months, overseas orders have significantly decreased, worse than during the pandemic, and the company is trying to make adjustments.” However, he did not address the issues of unpaid wages and increased labor intensity faced by the workers.
According to several workers, a similar strike occurred in April of this year due to the company withholding wages for eight months, but the issue was not completely resolved at that time. Many veteran employees believe that the labor disputes have been accumulating for many years, and the strike is just a collective outburst after being suppressed for an extended period.
Some workers mentioned that the mediation solution proposed by the company includes small subsidies and “voluntary resignation compensation,” but most people refuse to accept it, as “resigning means giving up everything.”
Mr. Li, who previously worked at a labor rights organization in Shenzhen, when interviewed by The Epoch Times, indicated that local governments across the country often tend to prioritize maintaining business interests in handling labor disputes as they heavily rely on corporate tax revenues. The Xiangxing labor unrest highlights the dilemma within the manufacturing industry where “workers have no bargaining power.” He stated, “In the face of pressures such as reduced orders in the manufacturing sector, local governments often prioritize stability in handling such disputes, disregarding the basic rights of workers. When workers’ legitimate demands are not met, they can only resort to strike actions.”
Mr. Li, who has been observing labor rights cases in China for a long time, mentioned, “Similar situations have persisted along the Guangdong coast for the past twenty years. Factories withhold wages, workers protest, and then get dispersed. In the past, we helped workers file lawsuits, but in the end, the workers were dismissed, and labor rights organizers were detained or even sentenced, such as the closure of the Shenzhen Chunfeng Labor Dispute Consultation Service Department and the arrests of its staff.”
According to records from the “Yesterday” website and well-known bloggers specializing in collective protest incidents in China, from June 16th to 19th, there were at least 21 protest events across mainland China. The types of protests included wage disputes, forced demolitions, property owner rights protection, conflicts with urban management officers, unfair school district allocations, petition interception, media censorship, and more, occurring in various regions such as Putian in Fujian, Qinhuangdao in Hebei, Zhaodong in Heilongjiang, Ji’an in Jiangxi, Zoucheng in Shandong, and Suizhou in Hubei.
Mr. Li mentioned that the recent frequent outbreaks of worker protests across different regions indicate that amid a slowdown in the Chinese economy and pressure on foreign trade exports, grassroots laborers and enterprises are facing similar pressures. “While it’s challenging for companies due to financial chain fractures, transferring losses to workers will only exacerbate social conflicts. The Fuqing incident represents a tipping point for the long-standing grievances of employees.”