BEIJING: Tens of thousands of workers were on strike yesterday at a factory in southern China which makes shoes for Nike and Adidas, rights groups said.
More than 30,000 staff at the Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings) factory in Dongguan city have been striking for several days in protest at unpaid social insurance payments, said US-based China Labour Watch, adding that police had beaten and detained several protesters.
China is facing labour unrest as its economic growth slows and as factories in its southern manufacturing heartland report a shortage of workers, prompting rising demands from staff.
Yue Yuen says on its website that it produces shoes for foreign brands including Nike, Adidas, Puma and New Balance.
Talks to resume despite clashes
MANILA: The Philippines said yesterday it was confident a peace deal with the country’s largest Muslim rebel group would hold despite fresh clashes that left four of its members dead.
The fighting took place just two weeks after the 10,000-member Moro Islamic Liberation Front (Milf) signed a peace deal to end their decades-old rebellion that had claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Milf fighters helped a group of Islamic extremists fighting government forces on Friday, but did so without their top leadership’s permission, President Benigno Aquino’s top peace adviser Teresita Deles said.
Two soldiers and 18 gunmen were slain in the clashes on the remote southern island of Basilan, the military said, while the Milf acknowledged four of its members were among those killed.
“This will not affect the entire peace process,” Deles said. “The resolve of both parties has not waned.”
Agencies
