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Chinese workers protest at Panasonic TV tube maker
Beijing (AFP) May 19, 2009 A crisis-hit Sino-Japanese TV tube maker's restructuring plan that could lay off 1,000 people at a Beijing plant led to a sit-in by hundreds of workers, an employee said Tuesday. More than 200 workers at Beijing Matsushita Color CRT, a joint venture with investments by Japan's Panasonic, held the protest last week after the plan to cut the firm's production lines from five to three was announced, an executive told AFP. "The crux of the matter is that the plan to downsize conflicts with the employees' interests," he said, adding the scheme could cause around 1,000 workers to lose their jobs. Under the plan, workers were offered an average 10,000 yuan (1,465 dollars) in severance pay for each year they have worked for the company, said the executive, who declined to be named. But most employees thought the compensation too low, said the executive, who has worked for the company for 18 years and is also facing redundancy. Toshihiko Shibuya, a spokesman for Panasonic, said the so-called "internal structure reform plan" was created because demand for cathode ray tubes, the company's main product, which is used to make TV sets, had slumped amid the global financial crisis. He added that the joint venture, which currently employs 2,600 workers, booked losses last year and had halted production to reduce its inventory. However, the restructuring plan would not be implemented before an agreement was reached with employees and the trade union, he said. Panasonic reported a net loss of 378.96 billion yen (3.92 billion dollars) for the financial year to March, its first annual loss in six years. The electronics giant, which is cutting 15,000 jobs and closing dozens of plants, said it expected to lose 195 billion yen in the current business year to March because of poor demand and the cost of restructuring. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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