Xingyu Graduates Take Employment Complaints to Europe

During campus recruitment in 2025, a graduate identified by the pseudonym Wu accepted a technical position at Changzhou Xingyu Automotive Lighting Systems. He reported for work on July 1 and was soon assigned to a production-line placement. Xingyu later confirmed that it had recruited 440 graduates for research, technical and management roles.

Human-resources staff began meeting the new employees in early August. Recordings and documents supplied by graduates showed two options: sign a departure form citing “personal reasons” and receive half a month's pay, or move to a production-operator position with revised compensation. Some feared that leaving after one month would cost them access to recruitment programs reserved for new graduates.

Changzhou's human-resources authority confirmed on August 25 that Xingyu had ended employment contracts with 107 graduates. It described the company's approach as blunt and lacking adequate communication, and said the HR director had been suspended. The notice did not determine whether the transfers or contract terminations were lawful.

Xingyu apologized on August 27, acknowledged management mistakes and said the 107 departures had occurred for company reasons. It offered three months of living support and free accommodation while the graduates looked for work. Anyone still unemployed at the end of November would receive another six months of pay.

As local authorities investigated, some graduates sent material abroad. TMTPost reported that complaints were submitted to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, while others searched the reporting channels of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen and studied European Union supply-chain mechanisms. Xingyu is pursuing a Hong Kong listing and supplies European automakers, allowing the graduates to move the dispute into listing scrutiny and customer compliance.

EU rules allow individuals to submit information about products allegedly made with forced labor, while large companies must address human-rights risks in their supply chains. Those channels can bring a Chinese supplier's labor practices to European customers, but a transfer or dismissal dispute does not automatically qualify as forced labor, and the EU cannot decide a Chinese employment contract.

After the overseas complaints drew attention, Xingyu increased its support and Changzhou authorities began providing employment services. Taking the material to Europe increased customer and reputational pressure on the company, although no EU authority or European automaker had publicly confirmed accepting a complaint as of August 28.

One widely shared Chinese comment read, “Western medicine still works faster.” The joke uses “Western medicine” as a stand-in for Western rules, mocking the perception that the prospect of European customer scrutiny produced a quicker response than the graduates' earlier efforts at home.

The Changzhou notice did not decide whether the contract terminations were lawful, whether the departure agreements were voluntary or whether the job transfers complied with the original contracts. Those questions remain for labor arbitration or litigation.

Sources: The Changzhou human-resources authority's August 25 notice; Xingyu's August 27 apology; China Times reporting on graduates and onboarding records; TMTPost reporting on overseas complaint channels; Xingyu's 2025 ESG report; and the EU Forced Labour Regulation and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. No EU authority or European automaker had published an acknowledgment of the reported complaints as of August 28, 2026. This article does not assert a direct causal link between an overseas complaint and Xingyu's compensation decision.