Workers turn down Wal-Mart offer

A group of 69 employees at Wal-Mart Stores Inc in Central China's Hunan Province, who are undergoing labor dispute arbitration with their employer, has unanimously voted against a settlement package offered by the retailer over the weekend, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Wal-Mart package, which was turned down, proposed to offer each worker 3,000 yuan ($480.3) to cover their expenses for filing the lawsuit.

A Wal-Mart spokesman said the company is working so that the voices of the affected employees are heard, news portal finance.qq.com reported on Monday.

The dispute arose after Wal-Mart announced on March 5 that it would close its store in the city of Changde in Hunan on March 19 with promised job transfers and compensation for dismissed workers.

On April 25, 69 workers and the labor union filed for arbitration over the labor dispute. The arbitration was heard last week at the Changde arbitration committee for labor dispute.

Huang Xingguo, the labor union chairman at Wal-Mart's Changde store, said the workers wanted compensation for termination of their jobs, not payment to cover the lawsuit expense, finance.qq.com reported.