Listen to the following statements about the strike at Honda's transmission plant in Guangdong province, one that has brought the Japanese company's car production throughout China to a juddering halt. The first goes like this: "The strike reflects the low wages the bosses are paying the workers . . . The system does not provide a legal base for collective bargaining." The second, like this: "In the three decades of opening-up, ordinary workers are among those who have received the smallest share of economic prosperity. The temporary stoppage of production lines in the four Honda factories . . . highlights the necessity of organised labour protection in Chinese factories."

CLB looks at how the workers’ movement in China has developed over the last two years, how the government has responded to it, and why the official trade union has been unable to play a positive role in it. Photo by Saad Akhtar

CLB presents a detailed examination of the current struggle for workers’ rights in China at an international conference to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which opened in Paris on 4 December. Photo by Saad Akhtar.

CLB director, Han Dongfang, argues that China needs genuine collective bargaining between labour and management to make the promise held out by the new Labour Contract Law a reality.

In 2005 China Labour Bulletin launched a pilot programme designed to assist and complement the aims of the growing corporate social accountability movement in China by promoting the use of collective employment contracts in the China-based supplier firms of multinational companies. Our initial intention was to work with multinational companies in setting up a factory-based mechanism to facilitate collective bargaining between labour and management that would lead to the conclusion of wide-ranging collective contracts on wages.

China Labour Bulletin publishes a new report on China's collective labour contract system, highlighting the need for genuine worker participation...

On March 25, 2007, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress invited concerned groups and members of the public to respond to its draft Promotion of Employment Law. In an unprecedented up-swell of public involvement in the legislative process, 4,713 submissions were made to the NPC Standing Committee within two weeks. Major issues of concern included discrimination in the workplace, the lack of social and health insurance, and the plight of rural migrants and college graduates.