Motorola job cuts spark ire in China
- By Chen Boyuan
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E-mail China.org.cn, August 23, 2012
U.S. electronic giant Motorola has announced plans to make job cuts at its China divisions, a move which is in line with the company's global strategy. The downsizing plans have however provoked protests among Motorola employees in China as well as labor disputes regarding compensation levels.
Last Friday, a number of Motorola employees gathered at the company's headquarters in Beijing's Wangjing area to protest about unequal terms in their termination deals.
An anonymous spokesperson for the protestors said the all employees were looking for "reasonable treatment" in the wake of Motorola's downsizing plans, adding that the company drew up the termination deal without any consultation or negotiation and then gave employees only 24 hours to sign the agreements.
The spokesperson said: "The HR department threatened to end our contracts with unilateral deals if we don't sign it; many of our colleagues gave in." In additional the spokesperson claimed that Motorola had not offered terms such as annual leave and a housing stipend.
Motorola's PR Manager Si Xuanjun responded to staff's claims and questions by insisting that the company's staff cuts are "completely legal," and that no employees were pressured or coerced into signing the deals.
Motorola's latest policy stipulates that its employees in Beijing are advised to sign bilateral termination deals before 12 p.m., Tuesday. It goes on to say that those who have not signed by this time will be given termination deals which strictly follow China's legal process, which would result in those employees receiving even less compensation.
According to Si, only one employee had failed to sign the deal before the deadline.
In addition to the company's tough stance during the whole process, staff anger was also provoked by the inaction of the trade union during the dispute.
One Motorola employee who works in Beijing, and wished to remain anonymous, said: "The union virtually didn't play any active role, and didn't bother to try and get better terms from the management." The employee also claimed that workers were unaware of the union's existence before the lay-off.
Si refuted the allegation, saying that the company's management notified the union about potential staff cuts as early as July. He also commented on the union's involvement in helping to finalize compensation terms. "It is through the joint efforts of the union, HR and legal department that the company decided to improve the overall compensation terms," he said.
Motorola's staff downsizing plans ran into further difficulties at the company's Nanjing-based R&D center, with none of the center's 500 staff having signed termination deals as of Wednesday.
Staff there also expressed surprise at the company's decision, citing Nanjing as one of the company's few profitable centers amid a gloomy global picture, as well as the fact that closing the Nanjing center and relocating to Beijing would raise company outgoings, especially with regard to wages.
According to one representative who was present as staff met to discuss the termination deal, employees refused to accept the same terms as those given to the company's Beijing staff due to the fact that "conditions are different in each city." Staff also expressed their fears for the future, given both Nanjing's relatively small job market and the types of jobs on offer.
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