A labor dispute reportedly caused by a reduction of workers' salaries has arisen at Casio's Guangzhou factory.
According to Chinese media, on March 5, 2008 the Guangzhou Casio factory published a new payment policy which said that from February 1, 2008, the basic salary of each worker would be increased to CNY690 from original CNY580, but their long-term service subsidy would be divided into 12 levels ranging from the minimum CNY5 to maximum CNY215 per month, in comparison to the previous minimum CNY30 per month and maximum CNY240 per month.
In addition, the factory reduced the four levels of bonuses to be paid to the workers from original CNY145, CNY100, CNY85 and CNY20 to CNY60, CNY15, CNY5 and zero, respectively. The workers said that though their basic salary had been raised as a result of this policy, their monthly income was actually decreased by about CNY100 because of the reduction of bonuses and service fees.
Though Casio said that they made the new payment standard to ensure that the workers' minimum monthly salary would reach CNY690, this policy has been resisted by the workers and with the intercession of the concerned labor departments, the factory agreed to maintain the original payment policy.