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Migrant workers in China

Migrant workers emerged as a by-product of two seemingly opposite policies; the household registration system established in the late 1950s to control internal migration, and the economic reforms initiated in the late 1970s to liberalize and boost the economy. CLB publishes a new report giving an analytical and statistical overview of one of China's most important groups of workers. Photograph by Joey Wan

The Need for Legal Muscle to enforce China's Collective Labour Contracts

The lack of legal compulsion and the impotence of many enterprise level trade unions are making the implementation of the Chinese government's collective wage consultation system an uphill struggle, union officials in the central city of Luoyang have conceded.

Railway workers “retired” on medical grounds fight back

In the late 1990s, China’s state-run railways laid off hundreds of thousands of workers as part of economic rationalization drive. The Shenyang Railway Authority devised a novel scheme whereby workers were retired “on medical grounds” even though many had never taken a day’s sick leave in their lives.

The Price of Coal in China

CLB publishes a report on China's coal mining industry focusing on the industry’s appalling safety record, collusion between mine owners and local government officials, and the government’s system of post-disaster management, which is systematically eroding the rights of the bereaved. Photograph by Andi808

CLB's Labour Rights Litigation Programme

Litigation is one of the few avenues open to ordinary Chinese workers seeking redress for violations of their labour rights. CLB is committed to helping workers bring law suits against employers and government agencies across the entire spectrum of labour issues from non-payment of wages and benefits to discrimination and workplace injuries.

Responding to Hepatitis B discrimination in the workplace

More than 120 million Chinese, about ten per cent of the population, carry the Hepatitis B virus. They suffer from widespread and often insitutionalized discrimination. CLB is currently helping bring nearly 20 anti-discrimination law suits in the mainland. Photograph by Nako

Trade Union official says China is just one step away from the right to strike

Workers in China do not have the constitutional right to strike. Yet, every day in the Pearl River Delta alone there is at least one major strike involving over a thousand employees and dozens of smaller strikes and stoppages. Photograph by Sebi