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blue whale news, september 8 (reporters zhu xinyue and zhang jinglun)zong fuli has been involved in many scandals since she took over wahaha. recently, wahaha was caught in the center of public opinion again because of the collective rights protection of its employees.

on september 7, the grassroots trade union joint committee of hangzhou wahaha group co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "employee stock ownership association") passed the wahaha officialweibothe statement released stated that the claims such as "wahaha rights protection committee filed a lawsuit to protect rights" and "required employees to re-sign labor contracts" were all false information. the employee stock ownership association stated that it had never heard of the relevant information of the "wahaha rights protection committee" and had not received any information about the lawsuit filed by the so-called "wahaha rights protection committee"; the company's internal share repurchase of the employee stock ownership association did not harm the members of the employee stock ownership association. at the same time, the employee stock ownership association stated that the equity transfer of xiaoshan shunfa was legal and valid, and there was no special reason speculated by the outside world.

image source: wahaha official weibo

but on september 8, a former wahaha employee told the blue whale news reporter, "there are about five to six hundred people seeking rights protection this time, and the lawsuit has been submitted to the shangcheng district people's court of hangzhou." according to the blue whale news reporter, the dispute mainly involves labor contract amendments, equity repurchases, profit distribution and other matters.

the blue whale news reporter contacted wahaha but received no response before the time of publication. the reporter then called the hangzhou shangcheng district people's court but did not receive a confirmation reply.

according to a reporter from blue whale news, the direct catalyst for the above-mentioned employees' collective rights protection came from a series of major changes starting from august 2024.

wahaha employees were notified one after another to terminate their existing labor contracts with wahaha group and were guided to re-sign employment agreements with hongsheng beverage group, which was led by zong fuli. this sudden change not only changed the employer status of employees, but also directly led to the complete abolition of a key benefit - the "dry stock dividend" rights enjoyed by employees in wahaha group. this move caused widespread anxiety and concern among employees. they generally worried that their long-term income stability and future career prospects would be overshadowed, which triggered this rights protection event.

an employee of wahaha analyzed to the reporter of blue whale news that the transfer will enable the main backbone forces to be incorporated into hongsheng, and there will be no need to pay dry stock dividends.

as for the other trigger, it was the transfer of equity in hangzhou xiaoshan shunfa. xiaoshan shunfa is one of the important investment entities of wahaha group. wahaha group employee stock ownership association was once one of the important shareholders of xiaoshan shunfa. previously, wahaha group employees behind the employee stock ownership association could share the high investment income from xiaoshan shunfa. the sudden change of equity recently has affected the personal investment income of wahaha group employees.

tianyancha app shows that the current legal representative of xiaoshan shunfa is zong fuli, who holds 100% of the shares. industrial and commercial change records show that in august this year, the wahaha group employee stock ownership association withdrew from xiaoshan shunfa company, and the previous shareholding ratio was not disclosed. at the same time, the company's market entity type was changed from "limited liability company (invested by hong kong, macao and taiwan, non-sole proprietorship)" to "limited liability company (sole proprietorship by natural persons from hong kong, macao and taiwan)".

the rights protection committee questioned whether the employee shareholding association's shares in xiaoshan shunfa were transferred in full to zong fuli's personal name at a price of zero yuan, and whether the transfer process was compliant and the price was reasonable.

in an interview with the media, qiu shumiao, head of the marriage, family and corporate affairs department of shanghai landi (guangzhou) law firm, said that whether the transfer was 0 yuan can be confirmed by checking the company's files at the company's competent industrial and commercial department, which may contain materials such as the equity transfer agreement. "whether it is legal and valid involves whether the company's grassroots trade union committee made the decision to transfer equity through legal procedures, the purpose and consideration of the equity transfer, etc."

qiu shumiao said that the transfer of equity for rmb 0 is not necessarily illegal and invalid. my country's current laws do not prohibit the transfer of equity for rmb 0. however, if the price of the transferred equity is obviously unreasonable, it is likely to be deemed as a malicious transfer of equity.

before zong fuli officially took over the wahaha group, there were three major shareholders of the wahaha group: the former chairman zong qinghou held 29.4% of the shares, hangzhou shangcheng district culture, commerce and tourism investment holding group co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "hangzhou culture, commerce and tourism") held 46% of the shares, and the wahaha group employee stock ownership association held 24.6% of the shares.

however, tianyancha shows that the shareholding situation disclosed after the industrial and commercial information of wahaha group was changed on august 29 was only zong fuli's 29.4% stake. the shareholding situation of hangzhou wenshanglv and wahaha group employee shareholding association was not disclosed.

based on the above dissatisfaction, the rights protection committee also began to trace back the equity repurchase six years ago.

the blue whale news reporter learned from the interviewed former employee that in february 2018, wahaha began to repurchase employee shares at a price of 2.6 yuan per share. however, many employees believed that the repurchase pricing was not transparent and no pricing basis was disclosed, which harmed their own interests, so they spontaneously formed a rights protection association to protect their rights.

the above-mentioned employee said, "i have worked in wahaha for many years and hold a certain amount of shares. in 2018, the shares were repurchased. at that time, it was agreed that after the repurchase, they would become dry shares and continue to enjoy dividends. the annual dividend amount is about 0.6 yuan per share (after tax). however, this year, there is no dividend for dry shares, so the employees are defending their rights and claiming that the equity repurchase is invalid."