Mooncake-2014

Something for the weekend…

Employers tend to see strikes arise over pay, pensions and changes to working conditions but never for the simplest of rewards, free tasty treats.

But it seems times are changing.

In China, factory workers downed tools this week after Beijing’s anti-graft campaign had deprived them of a perk that they consider a birthright rather than a bribe.

That perk is free mooncakes, which are traditionally offered by organisations throughout China to reward staff during the moon festival holiday.

Staff at the Dongguan Masstop Liquid Crystal Display Company, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, say they went on strike after being offered only an extra chicken leg at lunch and not a large one at that, no mooncakes and a reduced holiday cash bonus.

The countries anti-corruption campaign seems to have hit the sweetest of tooths, and it has even targeted rewards from banquet meals to gift boxes of seasonal hairy crabs.

How bizarre.