CHINA: U.S. employer held captive in China factory says he cannot keep all workers

Record ID: 335412

  • Title: CHINA: U.S. employer held captive in China factory says he cannot keep all workers
  • Date: 26th June 2013
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (JUNE 26, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF SPECIALTY MEDICAL SUPPLIES FACTORY U.S. AND CHINESE FLAGS ON FACTORY COMPANY CO-OWNER, CHIP STARNES, SEATED IN CONFERENCE ROOM FEMALE WORKER (SOUNDBITE) (English) CO-OWNER OF SPECIALTY MEDICAL SUPPLIES, CHIP STARNES, SAYING: "We won't keep everybody on the payroll. As I said, we're gonna take this opportunity
  • Embargoed: 11th July 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Business,Economy,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACCBMZJ56EE6W8YJEUG0BL8RJV
  • Story Text: In a Beijing factory, about 100 workers were holding a U.S. businessman captive for a sixth day on Wednesday (June 26).
    Chip Starnes, president of the Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, is held in a row over pay.
    He told journalists the company would not be able to keep all employees on the payroll after negotiations finish.
    "We won't keep everybody on the payroll. As I said, we're gonna take this opportunity to restructure the company, and then we're also trying to, you know, work something out that's fair on the severances as well," Starnes told journalists.
    He said on Tuesday (June 25) that about 100 workers were demanding severance packages identical to those offered to 30 employees laid off from the company's plastics division, which was moved to India due to lower production costs. The plant in the Huairou suburb of Beijing produces alcohol pads and plastic blood lancets for diabetics.
    The workers' demands followed rumours that the entire plant was being closed, though Starnes said no more layoffs were planned.
    Talks between Starnes's lawyers and the workers were under way, though Chu Lixiang, head of the Huairou labour union's rights and interests department, told reporters at the factory it would take time to reach a deal.
    Angry employees holding employers captive is not uncommon in China, according to consultants and lawyers. The level of trust between workers and managers is low in the country and faith in the legal system is weak.
    U.S. officials in Beijing met Starnes on Monday (June 24) and confirmed that he had not been physically harmed.
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