Workers protest against sale of Coca-Cola factory

More than 500 employees of Coca-Cola China in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality lodged a protest following an announcement that the bottling operations are to be sold to two local companies.

An employee surnamed Zhou who worked at the factory for five years, told the Global Times Wednesday that they hoped to get early retirement compensation as they are worried that they may get fired after one of the two companies, China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) takes over the bottling operations.

The Coca-Cola Company on Saturday announced to restructure its bottling operations in China and concentrate the business in its two franchise partners, COFCO Coca-Cola Beverages Limited (a subsidiary of Chinese State-owned COFCO Corporation) and Swire Beverage Holdings Limited. COFCO will own and operate 18 bottling plants, while Swire will own and operate 17, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Zhou said that the factory has already cut its employees from around 1,000 to 800 this year, and their concerns grew when COFCO sold a chocolate brand to Top Properties due to fierce competition in January, which led to the shutdown of factories and retrenchment of large numbers of employees.

According to Zhou, employees in Chengdu, Sichuan Province and in northeast China also held similar protests.

Photos posted online showed that protesters held banners in front of the factory's gate, which read "[we] worked hard [at here] for over 10 years but were sold secretly in a moment. We demand compensation."

The company said in an email sent to the employees on Tuesday that no changes will be made to employees' labor contracts, according to Zhou.

The Coca-Cola China could not be reached to comment as of press time.

Separately, two weeks after a Chinese firm purchased Sony Electronics Huanan, a Sony plant in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, its workers staged a "peaceful" protest.

Workers were informed about the purchase of the factory by A share-listed company Shenzhen O-film Tech Co. on November 7, and three days later when made enquiries about renewal of their contracts, a large number of police and government officials gathered around the factory gates, asking workers to go back to work, according to a case briefing published by Beijing-based lawyer Xu Xin on his Weibo account.

A male worker who has been working at this plant since 2012 told the Global Times on Wednesday on condition of anonymity that they had not protested before the police came and there was no violent "revolt" as reported in some Japanese media.

The factory is trying to force workers to sign an agreement, promising not to protest anymore, otherwise the can be fired with no compensation, he said.

Shenzhen O-film Tech Co purchased the plant for $234 million on November 8, with the aim of expanding its operations in electronics manufacturing sectors, especially in camera business, according to a public filing. The Sony factory produced in-front camera for companies like Apple Inc.