Friday the Longgang District Court of Shenzhen began the hearing on
the lawsuit against a South Korean-owned wig factory by a group of
female employees who claimed they were illegally searched last
month.
All of the persons concerned, including the 56 offended workers,
major members of the managerial staff, 19 witnesses and 100
observers, attended the session.
Friday's hearing passed off the first two parts of statement and
testimony declaration. The second hearing is scheduled for Saturday
and hopefully will settle the lawsuit, sources with the court
said.
Although all of the factory's managerial staff expressed their
apologies to the workers for any harm at the court, a sharp
discrepancy between the stories of the two sides still remains.
Lee Hong-kwang, a Korean executive manager of Bao Yang Industrial
Corp, as well as other defendants from the company's managerial
staff, insisted that the body searches took just 10 to 15 minutes
and added that only 52 workers had been "touched.''
According to Lee, the company received an anonymous letter that
alleged that some employees had stolen wig materials and sold them.
Consequently, the workers were searched.
He
also claimed the factory appropriately conducted the searches by
keeping the workers' aprons around their waists. Lee added that
none was asked to remove their shirt or pants.
However, no stolen hair was found on the workers, the company
admitted. But they assert that they found some knives hidden under
the work tables, and the weight of all the wig materials was
slightly heavier than when they were first received by the
workers.
"It is not the case! They all are telling lies!'' Wu Mei, a chief
representative of the workers, could not help shouting out during
the hearing.
According to them, they were brutally searched by some female
supervisors for more than an hour on July 30 after they were
suspected of stealing wig materials.
The workers allege that they were forced to take off their clothes
and even their underwear.
"We felt awfully humiliated by being touched all over our bodies,
especially before several male managers,'' she said. She stressed
they would fight for justice.
The workers are each demanding 30,000 yuan (US$3,600) and a related
fund of 2,000 yuan (US$240.9) from the factory.
The company, however, said that figure was too high. It is willing
to compensate each a worker a maximum of 4,000 yuan (US$481.9).
Zhou Litai, an attorney for the plaintiff, said the facts are clear
and if the results do not match their requirements, then they will
appeal to a higher court.
(China
Daily 08/26/2001)