Protests by unpaid Chinese workers spread amid factory closures (1 Viewer)

[anatta]

Protests by unpaid Chinese workers spread amid factory closures

Workers demand back wages from companies impacted by steep U.S. tariffs and an economic slowdown in China.

www.rfa.org

Across the country – from Hunan province’s Dao county in central China to Sichuan’s Suining city in the southwest and Inner Mongolia’s Tongliao city to the northeast – hundreds of disgruntled workers have taken to the streets to protest about unpaid wages and to challenge unfair dismissals by factories that were forced to shut due to the U.S. tariffs.

Earlier this week, more than a dozen migrant workers in Tuanjie village in Xi’an prefecture-level city in China’s northwestern Shaanxi province complained at a local project department, saying they had not received their wages since February 2025.

Last week, on April 24, hundreds of workers of Guangxin Sports Goods in Dao county went on strike after the company’s factory was shut down without paying employees their compensation or their social security benefits.

Workers at the company’s factory, which produces sports protective gear and related accessories, said Guangxin Sports unfairly dismissed more than 100 female employees, aged over 50 years, in September 2024 on the grounds of “reaching retirement age,” without paying them their wages or guiding them on retirement procedures.

When Radio Free Asia contacted Guangxin for a comment, a male employee at the company immediately hung up the phone on hearing the word “reporter.” The Dao County Labor and Social Security Bureau told RFA that “Guangxin still has dozens of employees operating.”

Elsewhere in Inner Mongolia, many construction workers gathered on the rooftops of Jincan Royal Garden Community in Tongliao city on April 25 where they threatened to jump off the building if they were not paid the back wages they were due, another video posted on the same X account showed.

 

[anatta]

 

[anatta]

this is a report on Daily Caller quoting WSJ which is pay walled.. IOW WSJ is the source, not Daily Caller

China Erupts: Furious Workers Riot As Factories Collapse Under Trump’s Tariffs

Chinese workers are flooding the streets in revolt as President Donald Trump’s tariffs slam China’s fragile export economy.

dailycaller.com

Huang Deming, a garment exporter in southern China, has already sidelined 30% of his workforce after three major U.S. clients walked away, the Wall Street Journal reported. Textile manager Qian Xichao said the internal market is so bleak that Chinese factories are locked in suicidal price wars just to stay afloat.

“To be frank, personally speaking, all we can do is go out and look for new opportunities,” Qian told the Journal.

The wave of anger sweeping across China today echoes the uprising in 2022 when Chinese citizens protested President Xi Jinping’s COVID lockdown orders. Xi’s forces quickly cracked down on dissent, leading to violent clashes across the country. China watchers anticipate Xi will take action again.

“Xi today has the same mentality as Mao. His bottom line is that no major crisis will be allowed to endanger his hold on power,” an adviser to the Chinese government told the Journal.

 

[iliveonramen]

Just to make you aware, you see rfa.org? That's radio free asia. Guess how that's funded? If you guessed the Voice of America, the organization that Trump is trying to completely dismantle, you'd be right!!

 

[anatta]

Just to make you aware, you see rfa.org? That's radio free asia. Guess how that's funded? If you guessed the Voice of America, the organization that Trump is trying to completely dismantle, you'd be right!!

what does that have to do with Chinese worker unrest? Are you saying it's not true?

 

[dmpi]

The CCP does not care about the Chinese people. They only care about staying in power.

 

[iliveonramen]

what does that have to do with Chinese worker unrest? Are you saying it's not true?

I'm saying that you're posting a news story, of an organization that is getting out information that the CCP would never allow out, while also supporting the complete dismantling of that organization and others like it.

Just interesting to say the least.

The CCP would thank you and this admin. So would Russia, North Korea, Iran, etc etc

 

[anatta]

I'm saying that you're posting a news story, of an organization that is getting out information that the CCP would never allow out, while also supporting the complete dismantling of that organization and others like it.

Just interesting to say the least.

The CCP would thank you and this admin. So would Russia, North Korea, Iran, etc etc

fair enough. I've had little luck confirming by MS sources . It looks like this has been going on a bit..I'v never seen ANY MS news reporting..our media are so worthless

 

[anatta]

Hundreds of Chinese Workers Protest as Factories Shut Down Due to Trump Tariffs

Hundreds of angry Chinese workers are marching in the streets of China’s industrial cities to protest layoffs and unpaid wages.

www.breitbart.com

Those estimates are all based on official government data, and since the Chinese government has a long history of fudging its numbers, the true situation is probably much worse. Capital Economics suggested on Tuesday that Beijing’s numbers for the first quarter were overly optimistic, for example.


China was already experiencing terminally low levels of consumer confidence before the tariffs struck, so there is no great domestic market standing by to absorb the goods America is not importing. Other countries do not seem eager to sacrifice their own domestic industries to soak up a tidal wave of Chinese overstock at bargain-basement prices. Beijing’s attempts to defibrillate the morbid economy with stimulus shock paddles during the last months of the Biden administration were considered disappointing by investors.


The next blow from the tariff war will hit China on Friday, when a new 120-percent levy hits packages that fall under the “de minimis” limit of $800 in value. Huge Chinese companies like Shein and Temu built their entire business model around taking orders via the Internet and shipping small parcels of cheap goods directly to American customers. Shoppers are discovering that tariff surcharges can more than double the prices from these Chinese outlets. Based on anecdotal reports, Temu seems determined to tell its customers exactly how much Trump’s tariffs are costing them, while Shein is struggling to absorb the costs as quietly as it can.


American businesses are taking damage from the trade war as well – but that could become another problem for China because those weak export orders are not going to perk up until American importers feel confident in placing big bets on Chinese manufacturing again. The harder China’s retaliatory tariffs hit American companies, the longer it will be before China’s ports begin humming with activity again.


Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and his top officials remain defiant, but on Wednesday Xi hinted that major policy changes could be coming to handle tariff damage. He did not say exactly what his government planned to do, besides creating more propaganda to accuse the United States of being a bully.


During Wednesday’s opening session of China’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), Premier Li Qiang pledged to achieve 5% GDP growth and create millions of new jobs despite the Trump tariffs. China’s increasingly agitated workers will not be pleased if their government fails to deliver on those extravagant promises.

 

[Mycroft]

Protests by unpaid Chinese workers spread amid factory closures

Workers demand back wages from companies impacted by steep U.S. tariffs and an economic slowdown in China.

www.rfa.org

Across the country – from Hunan province’s Dao county in central China to Sichuan’s Suining city in the southwest and Inner Mongolia’s Tongliao city to the northeast – hundreds of disgruntled workers have taken to the streets to protest about unpaid wages and to challenge unfair dismissals by factories that were forced to shut due to the U.S. tariffs.

Earlier this week, more than a dozen migrant workers in Tuanjie village in Xi’an prefecture-level city in China’s northwestern Shaanxi province complained at a local project department, saying they had not received their wages since February 2025.

Last week, on April 24, hundreds of workers of Guangxin Sports Goods in Dao county went on strike after the company’s factory was shut down without paying employees their compensation or their social security benefits.

Workers at the company’s factory, which produces sports protective gear and related accessories, said Guangxin Sports unfairly dismissed more than 100 female employees, aged over 50 years, in September 2024 on the grounds of “reaching retirement age,” without paying them their wages or guiding them on retirement procedures.

When Radio Free Asia contacted Guangxin for a comment, a male employee at the company immediately hung up the phone on hearing the word “reporter.” The Dao County Labor and Social Security Bureau told RFA that “Guangxin still has dozens of employees operating.”

Elsewhere in Inner Mongolia, many construction workers gathered on the rooftops of Jincan Royal Garden Community in Tongliao city on April 25 where they threatened to jump off the building if they were not paid the back wages they were due, another video posted on the same X account showed.

So, Trump haters here in the US are crying about not being able to buy that cheap Chinese junk...but what they don't realize is that the Chinese people are losing their jobs, not getting paid and their employers are going out of business.

America will survive, but unless the Chinese government takes action, China won't.

 

[anatta]

MS source

China manufacturing activity plummets amid Trump tariff war

Index of activity drops to lowest reading since December 2023 as a result of ‘sharp changes’ in international trading

www.theguardian.com

Economists have warned that the disruption in trade between the tightly integrated US and Chinese economies could threaten businesses, increase prices for consumers and cause a global recession.

“The weak manufacturing PMI in April is driven by the trade war,” Zhiwei Zhang, the president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, wrote in a note. “The macro data in China and the US will weaken further … as the trade policy uncertainty delays business decisions.”
Goldman Sachs has estimated that 16m jobs in China could be at risk if the high tariffs persist, mainly in the export, wholesale and retail industries.

A new US measure to close a loophole that had allowed low-value goods to be shipped into the US for free comes into effect on Friday, which will mainly affect Chinese businesses.

More than 90% of packages arriving in the US come under the “de minimis” scheme, which allows items with a value under $800 (£599) to evade duties. From Friday, those goods, which have fuelled the rise of e-commerce companies such as Temu and Shein, will be subject to a 120% levy or a flat fee.

Authorities last year announced a slew of aggressive stimulus measures aimed at boosting growth, including rate cuts and the easing of some home purchasing restrictions.

On top of this, leaders at a key political meeting vowed to create 12m urban jobs in 2025 in March.

 

[gman]

fair enough. I've had little luck confirming by MS sources . It looks like this has been going on a bit..I'v never seen ANY MS news reporting..our media are so worthless

They’re a large part of the dumbing down America movement by the U.S. media.

 

[anatta]

They’re a large part of the dumbing down America movement by the U.S. media.

between blind partisanship, media bias, and American politics based on ....(fill in your own word) , we don't know a damn thing

I just happened to stumble on Chinese worker unrest -have you seen any coverage in our USA MS press?? not me

 

[gman]

They’re too busy covering celebrities and wonky political crap. Average Americans can tell you anything about celebrities but couldn’t find Antarctica on a map.

 

[Cosmo]

Just to make you aware, you see rfa.org? That's radio free asia. Guess how that's funded? If you guessed the Voice of America, the organization that Trump is trying to completely dismantle, you'd be right!!

So Trump is trying to silence the very people that are posting news suggesting Trump's tariffs are working?