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Strike at giant shoemaker's China plant

Beijing - Tens of thousands of workers joined an escalating strike on Thursday at a Chinese plant of Taiwan's Yue Yuen Industrial, which claims to be the world's largest maker of branded shoes.

The number of strikers had grown by some 10 000 daily from about 30 000 on Monday at Yue Yuen's plant in the southern city of Dongguan, said Lin Dong of the Shenzhen Chunfeng Labour Justice Service Department, a workers' rights group based in nearby Shenzhen.

"Today, about 50 000 people are not going to work," Lin told dpa by telephone. About 10 000 of the plant's 70 000 workers gathered in Dongguan on Thursday, but they did not stage a protest, Lin said.

Thousands of protesters had clashed with riot police on Tuesday after they marched through the city.

Industrial action began on April 5 with a walk-out by workers angered by the company's failure to make social security payments and give other statutory benefits to some employees.

"It is a high-profile case. The demands of the workers are broader [than in previous strikes in China]," Geoffrey Crothall of the Hong-Kong based China Labour Bulletin told dpa.

"They're not asking for money, but just their rights," Crothall said. US-based China Labour Watch said its investigation of some 400 factories in China during the past decade found that "not one factory bought for its workers all of the social insurance items required by Chinese law."

"The demands raised by Yue Yuen workers reflect issues faced by most workers in China's manufacturing industry, and the resolution of this dispute will become an important precedent," China Labour Watch said.

Contacted by telephone, staff at Yue Yuen's Dongguan plant declined to comment on the strike. The company says it is "the world's largest branded footwear manufacturer," making shoes for global brands including Adidas, Puma, Nike and Timberland.

It made 313 million pairs of shoes and recorded revenue of $7.6bn last year, according to its annual report.

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