Hundreds of employees of the logistic warehouse of e-commerce platform Dewu in Langfang, in China’s Hebei Province, went on strike on June 26 to demand their wages but were suppressed by police, and as of July 12, they had not yet been paid their outstanding salaries.
Dewu is a Shanghai-based e-commerce mobile app developer launched in 2015. This online trading platform with 100 million registered users focuses on popular merchandise favored by young people, such as sneakers and trendy brands.
On June 29, two employees who participated in the walkout told the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times about the protest.
Li Jie (a pseudonym), is a university student. She said she got a job in Dewu’s logistics warehouse in Langfang through a labor agency half a month prior and planned to use her summer vacation to earn some money. But she found she didn’t get paid for her work and even lost nearly 1,000 yuan ($138).
“June 25 was payday, but the company didn’t pay, so our employees went on strike, and the next day, hundreds of employees were fired outright,” said Ms. Li, who was one of the dismissed employees.
According to Ms. Li, on June 26, hundreds of workers gathered at the entrance of the company and chanted slogans demanding the recovery of their wages. Meanwhile, they tried to prevent the company from removing goods that resulted from their labor.
“If the goods are taken away, we may not know who to ask for the money.” Ms. Li said.
The company later brought in a large number of shield-wielding security guards to stand in a line at the company’s entrance, and in the afternoon, dozens of police officers arrived to set up a cordon, Ms. Li said.
Protesters remained on the scene until the early morning of June 27, according to Ms. Li.
Another protester, Xu Fenghua (a pseudonym), told an Epoch Times reporter that on June 26, she saw police push and shove a pregnant woman who was also protesting. Several protesters were arrested by police that day.
According to Ms. Xu, Dewu outsourced part of its Langfang warehouse to Shandong Qisheng Development Cloud Warehouse (Qisheng), and since Qisheng took over the business, their wages have ever been paid on time.
Ms. Xu joined Dewu’s logistic warehouse in Langfang at the end of August 2023; on Dec. 21 of that year, she was told that she was no longer an employee of Dewu and was working for Qisheng.
Ms. Xu said the company asked them to work from 8 a.m. to midnight during the Lunar New Year period from Feb. 10 to 17. The company promised to pay 5,000 yuan (about $689) in bonuses, but by March 10, it had not yet paid, she said.
“From then until now, every month’s paycheck has been delayed,” Ms. Xu said, noting that some colleagues have been owed wages for more than three months, amounting to tens of thousands of yuan.
An Epoch Times reporter contacted Dewu, and the staff member who answered the phone confirmed that its Langfang warehouse has payroll settlement problems with Qisheng but that “it is being handled appropriately with the support of local management authority.”
The reporter was unable to reach Qisheng.
Ms. Li said it was her first time working for money and that she felt the darkness of society in China through this incident.
Ms. Xu expressed her helplessness in making a living, especially with a young child.
“Many veteran staff have left. ... I was also planning to leave and then look for a more stable job after this month’s paycheck,” she said.
