Workers protest against sale of Coca- Cola factory

More than 500 employees of Coca- Cola China in Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality lodged a protest following an announcement that the bottling operations are to be sold to two local companies.

An employee surnamed Zhou told the Global Times on Wednesday that they hoped to get a buyout offer as they are worried that they may get fired after one of the two companies, China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation ( COFCO) takes over the bottling operations.

The Coca- Cola on Saturday announced to restructure its bottling operations in China and concentrate the business in its two franchise partners, COFCO Coca- Cola Beverages Limited ( a subsidiary of Chinese State- owned COFCO Corporation) and Swire Beverage Holdings, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Zhou said that the factory has already cut its employees from around 1,000 to 800 this year, and their concerns grew when COFCO sold a chocolate brand to Top Properties due to fierce competition in January, which led to the shutdown of factories and huge layoffs.

Photos posted online showed that protesters held banners in front of the factory’s gate, which read “[ we] worked hard [ at here] for over 10 years but were sold secretly in a moment. We demand compensation.”

The company said in an email sent to the employees on Tuesday that no changes will be made to employees’ labor contracts, according to Zhou.

Separately, two weeks after a Chinese firm purchased Sony Electronics Huanan, a Sony plant in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province, its workers staged a “peaceful” protest on November 10.