Workers from the factory, including one current and two former employees, reported overtime that stretched past midnight, steep production quotas and crude verbal abuse at Ganzhou Huajian International Shoe City Co. They said beatings were not unheard of, but the shoe attack, which all three say they witnessed last year, was violent enough to stand out. Last month, three men investigating conditions at the Huajian Group factory in Ganzhou were detained, accused of illegally using secret recording devices to steal commercial secrets. On Wednesday, the three activists walked out of a Ganzhou police station, the final day of their legally mandated 30-day detention period limit pending trial. According to China Labor Watch investigators, until recently workers might have received only two days off — or less — per month. China Labor Watch said the company forced workers to sign fake pay stubs with inflated salary numbers and threatened to fire workers if they didn’t fill in questionnaires about working conditions with pre-approved answers.