Chip Starnes, co-founder and president of Specialty Medical Supplies China, has been trapped in the company’s suburban Beijing factory since Friday. He told CNN it’s all because of a misunderstanding about layoffs and severance packages.
“I tried to leave a day and a half ago, and there was like 60 or 70 of them here inside every entrance, and every exit was barricaded”.
The incident started when the company laid off about 30 workers in its injection molding division.
He said he transferred workers to another division, but some workers did not want to move. So the company gave them severance packages.The company has offered protesting employees a lesser severance package if they want to leave. But he said the 80 to 100 employees at odds are demanding about $500,000 — which would bankrupt the company.
But workers who spoke to CNN from behind the factory gates gave an entirely different account.
Some said they’re owed two months’ worth of back pay and feared everyone at the plant would be laid off and fear the plant will shut down.
I – Word Understanding
Trapped – a scheme for capturing another by surprise.
Lay offs – a company eliminates jobs regardless of how good the employees’ performance.
Severance package – is pay and benefits an employee receives when they leave employment at a company.
Back pay – past wages and benefits (bonus, increment, overtime, etc.) to which an employee is entitle
II – Have your say
1. Top 2 list of Worlds HappiestCompanies (Forbes News).The 3 companies promote
work-life balance among its employees through participation in its on-site wellness center and when working from satellite offices.
1.EMC (I.T, U.S.A company)
2.MotorolaSolutions (Communicati
on, U.S.A. company)
2. Reputation isn’t always a good thing. In an age of ‘corporate social responsibility. Here are twoof the worlds worst company.
3. Goldman Sachs – Goldman Sachs stands accused of taking massive fees to hide half of Greece’s public debt through accounting trickery.
4. Shell – Shell has been nominated for stepping up the hunt for fossil fuels in the fragile Alaskan Arctic and dropping renewable energy completely from their long-term strategy.
