Retail in Asia

In People

Walmart dispute ends China’s season of industrial unrest

After a long, hot spring of industrial unrest, the Chinese government is attempting to bring closure to the last in a series of high-profile labour disputes involving some of the world’s most powerful multinational companies.

On 12 June, neighbourhood committee cadres visited the homes of 69 Walmart employees who remain locked in an arbitration case with their former employer in Changde, a small city in Hunan province.

The neighbourhood officials, who enforce Chinese Communist party diktats at street level, carried pictures of the workers and conveyed a simple message to them and their families: don’t interfere in Walmart’s removal of goods from the store, which closed in March, and accept the retailer’s enhanced settlement offer of CNY3,000 (USD480) each for "legal fees" incurred during the three-month dispute.
 

(Source: CNBC)