30 May 2014
Today (30 May 2014), labour organizations in Hong Kong stage a demonstration at the Annual General Meeting of Yue Yuen (0551.HK) against the ambiguous arrangement on the compensation of social insurance to the workers.
Since the 5 April, more than a thousand of workers from the world’s largest footwear manufacturer Yue Yuen went on strike in its Gaobu Factory in Dongguan to protest against its violation of labor rights including the deduction on the contribution of social insurance and the labor contracts without legal effect. Later, 50,000 workers joined the strike. Though the strike was ended, Yue Yuen has not yet clearly explained the total social insurance payment in arrear to all affected workers. Moreover, it has not announced the payback schedule for that. Yue Yuen is reluctant to disclose the situation of social insurance in other of its factories.
On 20 May, the Board of Yue Yuen has announced that a provision of approximately US$37 million will be made for post-payment contributions to the Employment Benefit Payments of Gaobu Factory. This amount of money was estimated regarding to the Company’s communications with the relevant governmental authorities, the preliminary survey results recently received from the employees of Gaobu Factory and the number of applications received from employees of Gaobu Factory to date for the post-payment contributions to the Employee Benefit Payments. Yet, these can also indicate that Yue Yuen is trying to escape from its responsibility by paying for those who have applied the post-payment contributions only and the contribution situation of social insurance payment of other Yue Yuen factories is remain unknown.
We demand Yue Yuen to have a clear explanation on this issue to all its investors and shareholders. We urge Yue Yuen to:
1. bear full responsibility on the compensation;
2. give a concrete timetable on when they can compensate for all the affected workers;
3. maintain close communication with workers on this issue;
4. improve working conditions in the factories;
5. ensure no retaliation to workers who have participated in the strike.
Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior
Globalization Monitor