Labour advocate helping Dongguan factory strike arrested over WeChat message
Lin Dong facing public disorder charge over strike-related 'online rumour', but rights groups say it is part of crackdown on labour unrest
A labour rights advocate who was advising sports-shoe factory workers waging one of Dongguan city’s biggest strikes has been arrested on criminal charges of disturbing public order.
Lin Dong, a member of the non-governmental Chunfeng Labour Dispute Service, was detained yesterday by police in Dongguan’s Gaobu township, according to his colleagues.
His arrest was seen as part of the government’s wider crackdown on labour rights activists and groups in the wake of growing labour flare-ups in the vast factory belt of Guangdong province, according to lawyers and labour organisations.
Tens of thousands of workers with shoe manufacturer Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings), which supplies Adidas and Nike, have been on strike at the Taiwanese-owned factory for 16 days over insufficient benefits such as insurance. The workers are demanding a one-time lump sum as compensation.
Police took issue with one of Lin’s online postings claiming there was a strike at Shijie township, possibly inspired by the Yue Yuen industrial action.
The government believes our job has led to the big strikes. So they decided to [teach] us a lesson
There was a flurry of pictures and online messages last Tuesday about the Shijie strike, which was not reported by mainland media. It involved some 30,000 electronics factory workers unhappy with what they deemed unfair pay and benefits, according to blogs and online messages.