Agreement frees boss detained at factory
Source: Agencies |
June 28, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AN American boss detained for nearly a week by his company's Chinese workers left a Beijing factory yesterday after an agreement was reached over a pay dispute.
Chip Starnes, who said he was "saddened" by his experience, said a deal was reached overnight to pay scores of workers who had demanded severance packages similar to those given to laid-off workers in another division, even though the remaining workers weren't being laid off.
Employees at the medical supply plant in Huairou District had said they believed the factory was shutting down, that the company owed them unpaid wages and that they saw equipment being packed and itemized for shipping to India.
Neither Starnes nor district labor official Chu Lixiang gave details of the agreed compensation but Chu said all the workers would be terminated and Starnes said some would be rehired.
"It has been resolved to each side's satisfaction," Chu told reporters yesterday morning. She said they had been sorting out paperwork until 5am and that 97 workers had signed settlement agreements.
Starnes, co-owner of Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, had quietly left the factory grounds by the time Chu spoke, returning to his hotel in Beijing.
"Yes!! Out and back at hotel," Starnes wrote in a text message. "Showered ... 9 pounds lost during the ordeal!!!!!!"
Earlier, he said he had been forced to give in to what he considered unjustified demands. He summed up the past few days as "humiliating, embarrassing."
"We have transferred our funds from the US," he said. "I am basically free to go when the funds hit the account here of the company."
Starnes said he planned to get back to business, and even rehire some of the workers who had been holding him captive.
"We're going to take Thursday off to let the dust settle, and we're going to be rehiring a lot of the previous workers on new contracts as of Friday," he said.
Starnes previously said the company had been winding down its plastics division, with plans to move it to Mumbai. When he arrived in Beijing last week to lay off the last 30 people, workers in other divisions started demanding similar packages.
Chip Starnes, who said he was "saddened" by his experience, said a deal was reached overnight to pay scores of workers who had demanded severance packages similar to those given to laid-off workers in another division, even though the remaining workers weren't being laid off.
Employees at the medical supply plant in Huairou District had said they believed the factory was shutting down, that the company owed them unpaid wages and that they saw equipment being packed and itemized for shipping to India.
Neither Starnes nor district labor official Chu Lixiang gave details of the agreed compensation but Chu said all the workers would be terminated and Starnes said some would be rehired.
"It has been resolved to each side's satisfaction," Chu told reporters yesterday morning. She said they had been sorting out paperwork until 5am and that 97 workers had signed settlement agreements.
Starnes, co-owner of Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, had quietly left the factory grounds by the time Chu spoke, returning to his hotel in Beijing.
"Yes!! Out and back at hotel," Starnes wrote in a text message. "Showered ... 9 pounds lost during the ordeal!!!!!!"
Earlier, he said he had been forced to give in to what he considered unjustified demands. He summed up the past few days as "humiliating, embarrassing."
"We have transferred our funds from the US," he said. "I am basically free to go when the funds hit the account here of the company."
Starnes said he planned to get back to business, and even rehire some of the workers who had been holding him captive.
"We're going to take Thursday off to let the dust settle, and we're going to be rehiring a lot of the previous workers on new contracts as of Friday," he said.
Starnes previously said the company had been winding down its plastics division, with plans to move it to Mumbai. When he arrived in Beijing last week to lay off the last 30 people, workers in other divisions started demanding similar packages.
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