Multiple workers from Shenzhen Jasic Technology Co. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Jasic), a publicly traded company, were physically assaulted by company security guards and police due to their participation in establishing a labor union. Many workers protested outside of the Yanziling police station and publicly released an open letter, requesting the assaulters to be punished, to halt retaliation against the workers who defended their rights, to improve workers’ working conditions and to support workers in their efforts to establish a labor union.

On May 10, 2018, Jasic workers filed a grievance with the Pingshan District Human Resources Bureau and the Pingshan District General Union regarding their company’s practice of illegally adjusting time off, restricting movement during rest time, implementing an illegal penalty structure called “Jasic’s 18 Prohibitions”, insufficiently contributing to their housing provident fund, divulging workers’ personal information and illegally establishing a black list. After the filing returned no results, the workers submitted an application to establish a labor union to the District’s General Union and the Longtian Sub-district General Union, in addition to mobilizing 89 workers to sign and join the self-created labor union.

Afterwards, the workers who actively participated in establishing the labor union suffered from various forms of reprisal. On July 12th, the District General Union along with Jasic management personnel reprimanded the worker, Mi Jiuping, for establishing a labor union and claimed that doing so was illegal. Subsequently, Liu Penghua, Mi Jiuping, Song Yao and other workers who participated in establishing the union were each in turn beaten by the company for various reasons as well as dragged and thrown out of the factory and threatened with dismissal.

On the morning of July 20th, Mi Jiuping, Liu Penghua and others, who were headed to work as usual, were first thrown out of the factory by security guards, then beaten by police who rushed to the scene and detained at the Yanziling police station. Before the afternoon, 20 plus workers rushed over to provide assistance but were also detained by the police. Following this, even though all were released, the police’s actions still incited workers’ anger and protest. On the morning of the 22nd, more than ten workers headed to the police station to demand justice. They shouted for the assaulters to be brought to justice and continued their protest into the night.

On July 23rd, many of the workers who participated in creating the union, publicly released an open letter about how they were beaten for establishing the union. In the letter, they explained the course of events and issued the following requests:

The Yanziling Police Station is to fire all the police officers who were involved with the beatings, compensate the beaten workers for their medical fees and for missing work, as well as issue a written apology that is to be circulated throughout society. The Pingshan District General Union is to help Jasic workers with establishing a legal union and support workers who participate in establishing the union. Jasic is to fire the management personnel and security guards who directed and participated in the beatings, compensate workers for their medical fees and for wages lost due to missing work, as well as issue a written apology to the workers and their families. Jasic is to re-employ all the workers who were dismissed as well as ensure the company will never again retaliate against workers. If the dismissed worker is not willing to be re-employed, we request for Jasic to issue doubletime compensation as according to their length of service plus 24 months of wages. Jasic is to abolish its unreasonable rules and regulations and negotiate with workers to establish new rules and regulations.

Pingshan District’s General Labor Union issued an article today claiming that progress has been made towards the establishment of a union and official preparations have begun. China Labor Watch believes that the District Labor Union, Jasic and the police should fulfill the workers’ demands, acknowledge the legality of workers’ establishing a union and not to dismiss the workers who defend their rights. Moreover, establishing a “labor union with Chinese characteristics” that is controlled by the enterprise is absolutely unfair to the workers who have been beaten and fired and is not beneficial to the future defense of workers’ rights.