DONGGUAN, China (Reuters) – Hundreds of workers gathered outside a shuttered toy factory in southern China on Friday, after a Hong Kong-listed toymaker closed amid tough times made worse by the U.S. economic slowdown.
“Because business is bad, we are unable to give you your salaries,” read a notice stuck on the main gate. About 10 riot police with batons and shields stood in front of the gate.
A shopkeeper, selling Chinese-made toys, talks to a customer at a store in Beijing November 23, 2007.(Claro Cortes IV/Reuters)
Smart Union Group did not pay its 6,500 employees in Dongguan, an export-oriented Chinese city about an hour-and-a-half train journey north of Hong Kong, for the last two months, the China Daily reported.
On Friday, about 1,000 workers gathered for the second day at the gates of a Smart Union factory in Zhangmutou town.
The company in late September reported a loss of more than HK$200 million for the first six months of the year.
Its shares have lost 94 percent of their value since the beginning of the year. They closed at HK$0.099 a share on Wednesday, and did not trade on Thursday. Smart Union did not give a reason for its share suspension and could not be reached for comment on Friday.
Factories in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong have suffered over the past year-and-a-half from a credit crunch, rising labor costs and China’s stronger currency, which makes their products more expensive.
Dongguan city earlier this month set up a 1 billion yuan ($146.4 million) rescue fund for small and medium-sized businesses hurt by the global economic crisis, which has reduced export orders sharply.
The number of Chinese firms exporting toys overseas halved in the first seven months of 2008, compared to the year before, the General Administration of Customs said on Monday.
The Canton Fair, the top trade fair which is a barometer for China’s foreign trade, saw visitor numbers fall sharply this week, indicating stiffer competition for export factories seeking buyers in the months to come.
(Writing by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Ken Wills and Valerie Lee)
November 12, 2008 at 7:55 am |
Buy made in USA and support freedom and avoid the lead paint in the toys and the bad tires and the poisoned dog food and junky xmas lights! I only buy american made products and i strongly tell others to buy only made in the USA if possable. They are very easly found on the inter net like pointer jeans and step 2 toys and there are some teddy bear factories still here also! Obama will rais taxes on all of the junk from China and bring back the jobs that these stupid companies sent there for slave labor and for those poor people to work for free for 2 months is just not right!! I hope those workers storm the factory and get there money thats owed to them. The stupid china commy government needs to step in and make sure these poor people get there 100.00 per month wages which is nothing.