Visitors
walk past the IBM booth at the 9th China International Software Product &
Information Service Expo in Nanjing, Jiangsu province September 6, 2013.
(Reuters) - More than 1,000 workers at an
IBM factory in southern China have gone on strike against the terms
of their transfer to Chinese PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd caused by the U.S.
company's $2.3 billion sale of its low-end server business.
Several
workers gather outside gate of the International Business Machines
Corp factory in Shenzhen on Thursday said production remains suspended
for a fourth straight day.
"So
far, we've heard nothing from the management or the government in response to
our demands," said Hou Hongbo, a 10- year worker at the factory.
"The company's attitude so far is to ignore us, but the entire
production remains shut down."
The
workers want higher pay if they choose to transfer to Lenovo or higher
severance packages if they choose to leave. Hou said they were determined to
keep their action going.
"We
will definitely keep striking tomorrow," he said.
The
terms offered to workers at the International System Technology Company
factory in Shenzhen are "comparable in aggregate to what they currently
are receiving," IBM spokeswoman Florence Ma said in an e-mailed
statement. If workers choose to leave, they will receive an "equitable
severance package," Ma said.
"We
are hoping employees will decide to remain with ISTC," Ma said.
Lenovo
declined comment.
Workers
at Chinese factories are increasingly turning to protests and factory
shut-downs when they feel the terms of international takeovers are not good
enough or labor conditions have worsened.
Hundreds
of employees stopped work at a Nokia factory in Dongguan in
November, complaining of changes following Nokia's sale of its mobile
phone business to U.S. softwaregiant Microsoft Corp.
Last
August, 5,000 workers in eastern Shandong Province went on strike to protest
ApolloTires Ltd's proposed $2.5 billion acquisition of U.S.-based Cooper
Tire & Rubber Co.
(Reporting
by Venus Wu, Grace Li, James Pomfret, Donny Kwok and Clare Baldwin
Editing by Jeremy Gaunt).
News Source: www.reuters.com
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