Thousands of workers strike at Flextronics plant in China

Workers reportedly began striking on Monday, over the relocation of the the factory to Suzhou, demanding that the factory pay a penalty for severing a labor contract and offer a moving allowance. Workers are also demanding that the local government provide them with a subsidy. According to China Labor Watch, Flextronics told workers in Shanghai that if they did not decide to move to the Suzhou factory they would not be offered severance pay. China Labor Watch has said conditions in the Suzhou Wuzhong factory are worse than in Shanghai, based on the group's investigation in 2011 and 2012. "By moving its factory, Flextronics is almost certainly trying to take advantage of the lower labor standards in Suzhou," China Labor Watch said in a press release. The factory in question, Flextronics Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. is located in the Jiading District of Shanghai and has manufactured for companies such as HP, Alcatel, Motorola, NCR, Nokia, Nortel, and Toshiba.