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(Shanghai) Workers at a factory for the Italian sofa maker DeCoro are striking to protest against alleged beatings by foreign supervisors amid a dispute over pay cuts, workers and news reports said Thursday.

The standoff highlights growing tension between workers and management in southern China, where migrant labourers willing to work for minimal wages are not as plentiful as they once were thanks to growing opportunities in other regions.

Staff at DeCoro's factory in Shenzhen, an industrial zone bordering Hong Kong, said production had stopped with nearly 3,000 workers staying away to protest against an alleged attempt by management to cut wages.

Employees took to the streets Tuesday and were due to meet Thursday with local labour department officials who were attempting to mediate in the dispute, said a worker contacted by phone who would not give his name or title out of fear of punishment by his bosses.

The protesters were further incensed over allegations a group of foreign managers had beaten three workers, he said.

The Hong Kong-based public relations executive named as a news media contact on DeCoro's website was out of the office but answered an e-mailed inquiry by saying she would respond "as soon as possible."

Reports said riot police armed with shields and clubs dispersed Tuesday's protest. Factory managers gave workers a "day off" Wednesday but had been expecting them to work Thursday, said a report by the state-run newspaper Southern Metropolitan Daily.

That report, and one in Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, said the dispute erupted after workers discovered last week their October paycheques were smaller than expected. The reports' explanations of the reasons for the reduction differ but the result was a group of 10 workers was dismissed for confronting management over the issue.

When those workers tried to re-enter the factory Monday, they were surrounded by four or five "foreign" supervisors and beaten, the reports said, without specifying nationality.

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I think we can truly say the answer would be no.

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Originally posted by Ken Burch:
Hopefully the "Communist" Chinese government will someday admit that it needs more socialism AND more democracy.

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That sure would be nice.