More than 700 workers of a factory owned by leading Japanese wristwatch producer Citizen in south China's Guangdong Province continue to strike over overtime work.

The strike, which has entered its eighth day on Monday, erupted at the Xinmin Guanli Precision Timepiece Factory in Guangdong's city of Dongguan.

By Monday afternoon, more than 700 of the factory's 2,000 workers were still on strike, while some of their colleagues chose to return to work.

A worker of the factory said that on June 8 and 9, the factory halted production for two days because of a problem with its air conditioning units. The factory then asked its employees to make up the two workdays on June 12 and June 19, both of which are weekends.

However, the company refused to pay its employees double wages for working the weekend shifts, as is stipulated by China's labor laws.

The workers, however, believe that they must get double pay for working on those Sundays.

In fact, the workers have long complained about the factory's management, even before the dispute over the weekend shifts erupted, said the worker.

The workers said in a petition letter sent to the local government that the factory has forced them to work overtime and also illegally demanded cash pledge.

Labor dispute mediators in Dongguan have intervened in the argument, but the workers and factory managers have yet to reach an agreement.

Some workers have asked for their employment contracts to be terminated, while others wish for their wages to be raised to an unspecified "reasonable level."

The workers said they earn about 2,500 yuan ( about 386 U.S. dollars) to 3,000 yuan per month, overtime pay included.

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