US employer, held captive, keeps hope alive

[Punch]

A U.S. businessman held captive by about 100 workers in a Beijing factory said on Wednesday he was hopeful of a resolution to a row about pay in the next day or two.

Chip Starnes, president of the Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, said from behind his barred office window that the workers were demanding severance packages identical to those offered to 30 recently laid off employees – even though there weren't going to be any more layoffs.

The six-day-old stand-off in the suburb of Huairou, not far from sections of the Great Wall, has highlighted one of the lesser known risks of doing business in China, where the level of trust between workers and managers is low and faith in the legal system is weak.

"I'm hoping we can come to some sort of agreement here today or tomorrow, or something like that," Starnes told Reuters by telephone from inside the plant, which produces alcohol pads and plastic blood lancets for diabetics.

Talks between Starnes's lawyers and the workers were under way, though Chu Lixiang, head of the Huairou labor union's rights and interests department, told reporters at the factory it would take time to reach a deal.

"As of now, we are still in the process of solving this. There is no new news nor any result that has come about yet," Chu said.

Angry employees holding employers captive is not uncommon in China, according to consultants and lawyers. Detailed figures are difficult to obtain, but the cases often arise out of a mix of mistrust, mismanagement and desperation.

The U.S. State Department's consular information sheet on China notes cases of civil business disputes in which U.S. citizens have been prevented from leaving the country for months or years, been harassed or intimidated by "debt collectors" or physically detained as leverage.

The Punch