Former Walmart China employees are preparing to file a lawsuit against the global retail giant after it shut down a store in China’s Hunan province in March, according to Reuters.
After having claims for better compensation rejected by an arbitration committee on Wednesday, Reuters reports that former employees are also under pressure from the local Changde neighbourhood committee to accept Walmart’s compensation offer of Yn3,000 (US$482) each.
Employees said they did not receive enough warning of Walmart’s plan to close down the Changde store and are seeking better compensation.
Reuters reports that the Changde store’s union boss, Huang Xingguo, was unhappy with the results from the arbitration committee.
“I fell like workers will always be at the bottom rung in the face of capital, the government and the union, and we will always have a weak voice,” Huang told Reuters.
A Walmart spokesperson told Reuters the action it took complied with the law, and that Walmart had the support of local government.
Walmart operates more than 400 stores across China, with plans on opening 30 new retail outlets as part of a three year expansion. The expansion plans also saw 20 underperforming stores being closed down, which outgoing CEO Greg Foran said represented 9 per cent of China Walmart’s stores, but only accounted for 2-3 per cent of sales.
