| Jasic incident | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 27 July – 24 August 2018 | ||
| Location | |||
| Caused by | Poor working conditions, low wages, and forced overtime at the Jasic Technology factory in Shenzhen | ||
| Goals |
| ||
| Methods | Unionization, demonstrations, direct action, student activism, labor strike, social media activism | ||
| Resulted in | No concessions given; dozens of demonstrators arrested, leftist student groups disbanded by the government | ||
| Parties | |||
| |||
| Lead figures | |||
| Casualties | |||
| Detained | 50+, including two officials from the All-China Federation of Trade Unions | ||
The Jasic incident (Chinese: 佳士事件; pinyin: Jiāshì shìjiàn) was a labour dispute in Pingshan District, Shenzhen of the Guangdong province of the People's Republic of China between labour organizers and Chinese authorities that lasted from July to August 2018.[5]
The dispute began on 27 July 2018 when a group of workers of Jasic Technology Co., Ltd., dissatisfied by low pay, poor working conditions, and long shifts sought to form a trade union.[6] Jasic responded to the workers petition by firing the employees. This sparked weeks of protests by factory workers in Shenzhen, as well as student members of the Jasic Workers Solidarity Group and other sympathizers. The protests consisted of public demonstrations, labour strikes, and direct action, and have been described as being largely Marxist[7] and Maoist[8] in nature.
On July 27, twenty-nine workers from the Jasic factory were detained for "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," a vague charge frequently used by the authorities to quash speech or action that isn't covered by more specific legal statutes. One month later, heavily armed police arrested fifty students and workers who had begun a campaign to push for the release of the detained workers. Back in Beijing, the government raided the offices of the sympathetic Red Reference magazine, detaining one employee. "They searched every corner of our offices, and even smashed a cupboard, and took our computers, our books away in a bunch of boxes," said magazine editor-in-chief Cheng Hongtao.