US factory boss held hostage in Beijing
An American business owner has been restricted from leaving his medical supply company for four days in Beijing by workers demanding back pay and severance packages.
Chip Starnes, co-owner of Coral Springs, Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, claims he has been coerced into signing agreements to meet the demands of the workers.
Workers have blocked every exit 24-hours and depriving him of sleep by shining bright lights and banging on windows of his office, said Starnes.
A local police spokesman said police were at the scene to maintain order and found no threat to Starnes's personal safety. Four uniformed police and about a dozen other men who declined to identify themselves were standing across the road from the plant. After investigation, the police believed it is a dispute between workers and the employer, instead of a criminal case or a kidnaping case.
US Embassy staff stood outside the gate throughout Monday and eventually were let in. An Embassy spokesman said the two sides were on the verge of an agreement and that Starnes would have access to his attorneys.
Starnes reportedly said the company had gradually been winding down its plastics division, planning to move it to Mumbai, India. He arrived in Beijing last Tuesday to lay off 30 people as the company owes 2.7 million yuan ($444,000) in salaries, according to the company's operation vice-president surnamed Huang.
