A time of year typically known for labor unrest is taking a worrisome twist, with major new strikes occurring at top microwave oven maker Galanz and shoe making giant Yue Yuen (HKEx: 551), whose clients include Nike and Adidas. These latest signs of labor unrest in the important Pearl Delta manufacturing hub come just weeks after workers staged another strike at an IBM (NYSE: IBM) factory being sold to Chinese PC leader Lenovo (HKEx: 992). The fact that these industry leaders are seeing such major problems so early in the year hints at even bigger problems for smaller factories, which are struggling under the weight of soaring costs and sagging export orders. Read Full Post…
I had a sense of deja vu on reading reports that a group of workers at an IBM (NYSE: IBM) plant in south China had gone on strike, unhappy about the terms of their transfer to domestic PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992) under a recent M&A deal. It seems the workers in the city of Shenzhen were offered similar pay and other terms under the transfer, which came as the result of Lenovo’s pending purchase of IBM’s low-end server business announced in January. But the workers were still unsatisfied, feeling they should get higher pay for agreeing to work at a domestic company rather than the more prestigious IBM. Read Full Post…
