National Business Wire (Jan 15) -- Chinese workers at Malaysian plastics maker Toyoplas recently went on strike over higher unemployment pay, a source said Sunday.

Toyoplas Manufacturing (Shanghai Songjiang) Co., Ltd. (Toyoplas Shanghai), a subsidiary of Toyoplas, which will relocate to Vietnam in the near future, has failed to reach an agreement with its workers on compensation rates, according to a YouTube video.

As a result, the company's workers embarked on a mass strike from 10th to 14th January, demanding that the company raise its compensation rates.

Founded in May 2002, Toyoplas Shanghai mainly produces and sells precision plastic moulds and precision plastic parts for electrical appliances. Public information shows that the plastic manufacturer occupies an area of more than 20,000 square metres in Shanghai, and employs more than 500 people.

Toyoplas Shanghai posted a notice on Jan. 10, announcing that it would terminate its contracts with employees by Jan. 18, 2024, and compensate them by paying one month's worth of salary for every year of tenure with the company, according to the video.

The company said it would pay an extra month's salary as an incentive if the employee could sign before 6pm on 17 January. At the same time, it warned that the company has the right to pursue legal responsibility if the employee commits any offences against the law and discipline to the detriment of the company during this period.

However, Toyoplas Shanghai employees did not accept the compensation package. The workers said that most of them joined the manufacturing firm in their 20s and are now in their 40s, that it is difficult to find another job after losing their jobs, and that they have not yet paid enough for their insurance.

They believe that they deserve better compensation for having dedicated their entire youth to the company, the video said.

To voice their demands, Toyoplas Shanghai workers went on strike on 10 January, halting production and gathering inside and outside the company, as well as at the local petition office.

Toyoplas Shanghai has resolved to dissolve and submitted a liquidation filing to the local market regulator at the end of December, according to data from Tianyancha, an online platform providing Chinese enterprise information.