After Striked in MASSTOP

I had heard about MASSTOP before I entered it. It was quite big around Sangyuan. People talked about how well they paid and how good the working conditions were. At that time the entry requirements were very high.

In 2007 I finally became part of MASSTOP, only to regret afterwards. The so called high pay was earned by overworking day after day. It was hard-earned, blood-and-sweat money! And the only piece of lawn was soon used to construct new factories. What was in front of us everyday were concrete walls.

What made things worse was the dawning of financial crisis. It changed our quiet and boring life. There were fewer orders, less overwork, and naturally less pay (what we got was a few hundred for basic wage) To make things worse, the factory replaced our overtime pay with days off!!

At the end of the year we were expecting a good year, only to know that there would be no more year-end bonus. In a fit of rage, some colleagues tried to fight for their rights by going on strike, yet they were pacified by a 10-Yuan red envelope. How pathetic.

The world has to go round, and we have to go to work to live on! In year 2009, the factory got many new orders, and everyone worked overtime, as if last year's discontent didn't exist. We thought we would make more than a few hundreds this year, but who knows that a notice once again disturbed our peaceful life. On February 28th the factory announced that there would be a special working hour system. The overtime pay on weekends is 1.5 times of normal wage (at that time we work overtime every day, consecutive shifts, more than 12 hours a day. Some refused to overwork, and got penalty.) The angry workers asked the labor administration what was going on, and were told that MASSTOP has filed an application to adopt the special working hour system, but it had not been approved yet, (the company said it had long been approved, thus urging us to sign) We were all frustrated.

As early as October 2008, the food expense per person per day was lowered to 4.5 dollars from the original 8.5 dollars. The utensils are not washed properly (because they want to save water, electricity, detergent and human labor). This resulted in the food poisoning of over 100 people in early April.

On the 15th of April, 2009, the company finally paid us. When we found out that the weekend overtime should be only 1.5 times of our normal wage, we chose to go on strike again to protect our rights. (We had incredibly many orders in the past month, some of us had more than 200 hours of overtime) The night shift of the 15th refused to work. During the daytime of the 16th, angry day-shift employees pushed the door open, blocked the Sangyuan road and marched to the highway one kilometer away. We kept on strike on the 17th, and at noon MASSTOP finally posted an announcement, agreeing to give us the overtime for March. However, we were asked to get back to work before 3 pm, otherwise we would be seen as voluntarily ending our contracts. At that time we did not know the announcement was unlawful. Most people were forced to get off duty at 3 p.m. sharp. 19 employees insisted on strike and were laid off.

The factory said we could have half a day's off on the 4th of May only if we have an invitation letter from the government. (the 4th of May is a national holiday in China) If not, we would have to work. God knows whether the Chinese government really has such an article.

Until now, the rights that have been deprived from us and the food problem has not been solved, and we eat even worse now. The food of day-shift is barely edible, let along that of the night-shift.

As a Chinese saying goes: "Beggars can't be choosers" Forget about it. We still have to go to work tomorrow. We still have to make our hard-earned money. But we all sensed our serious discontent and complaint. We don't know how much longer we can endure.

2009.5.7