Blogs

Wage arrears: The problem that never seems to go away

15 March, 2012

China’s Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, Yin Weimin claimed during a 7 March press conference that the number of migrant worker wage arrears cases has been on a downward trajectory in recent years. The latest statistics from China’s official trade union tell a different story. A spokesman for the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) said in December that the number of wage arrears cases and the number of runaway bosses actually went up last year, despite the introduction of legislation making the malicious non-payment of wages a crime.

Amid high fashion, some National People’s Congress delegates show concern for the less privileged

8 March, 2012

While the popular focus of this year’s annual gathering of parliament in Beijing has been an obsessive analysis of the Hermes belts, Dior handbags and Emilio Pucci suits exhibited by well-off delegates, quite a few delegates have also voiced concern over the country’s hardworking, yet for the most part, underprivileged migrant workers.

The real reason Foxconn raised wages in Shenzhen

20 February, 2012

Once again people are making a big deal about Foxconn raising wages, linking the increase announced in Taipei on Friday evening to growing criticism in the international media of the company’s work practices. The real reason that the electronics giant is raising wages again, I suspect however, is simply because the Shenzhen municipal government increased the statutory minimum wage on 1 February by about 13 percent to 1,500 yuan per month, forcing Foxconn to do likewise in order to maintain its current pay differentials.

New employment patterns begin to emerge for migrant workers in China

15 February, 2012

After the Chinese New Year holiday, migrant workers seem to have more bargaining power than ever before at their disposal and a great deal more options as to where they’d like to work, and migrant workers in different age groups now have their own preferences.

China’s misplaced concerns over workers in Africa

31 January, 2012

All of a sudden China’s overseas workers are headline news. The official Chinese media and the Internet have been flooded with expressions of concern and outrage at the abduction of 29 Chinese road workers in Sudan. While some bloggers are demanding commando raids to rescue the workers, the Global Times took a rather more measured approach, urging Chinese embassies to do more to protect Chinese nationals, and for individuals to be more safety conscious when working overseas.

The way forward: pressuring Apple or building a workers' movement?

27 January, 2012

Apple’s 2012 Supplier Responsibility Report has launched a discussion on the abuses in Apple’s supply chain, and how to go about remedying it. In many ways, the discussion is great because it interjects the all too hidden topic of Chinese working conditions into the mainstream. But at the same time, the challenge is to figure out how to improve conditions at Apple’s suppliers so that Chinese workers and Chinese society benefit in the long run.

Mind the gap: Apple’s code of conduct and China’s labour laws

16 January, 2012

When Apple, one of the world’s most secretive companies, was winning plaudits for finally revealing the names of its supplier companies in its 2012 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report last Friday, one small detail seems to have been overlooked.

Shenzhen job hunters unfazed by economic downturn

9 January, 2012

In spite of a sharp fall in the number of job openings in the southern metropolis of Shenzhen, migrant workers are still showing up at the city’s job fairs confident of finding employment in a city where there is a significant under-supply of labour.

Social work – a growing but unstable industry in China

16 December, 2011

Despite the growing interest of college students in social work and the relatively high salary of this profession, a Guangdong-based social worker service centre said they still have difficulty finding professional social workers. In Guangzhou alone, the shortfall in social workers will reportedly be 6,000 next year.

Pepsi’s offer fails to satisfy angry workers

6 December, 2011

Although many scholars are pessimistic about the workers’ demands because they lack a clear legal base, some labor rights lawyers say no matter what the final outcome of this merger is, PepsiCo workers’ collective movement will surely have a profound impact on other foreign merger cases in China. Moreover, they point out that the lack of an effective collective bargaining mechanism in enterprises makes the situation for both workers and management more difficult to resolve.

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