Sitting at a sidewalk coffee shop a block from the White House, Andy Stern, former president of the Service Employees International Union, is reflecting on a series of visits he's made since 2002 to China, where he has discussed organizing and collective bargaining with leaders of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU). China's economic transformation is a profound challenge to the United States, and to American workers in particular, Stern says. "We have to recognize that China is the first real economic competitor that has ever threatened America's standing as the global economic superpower."

The mainland's sole official trade union will pay staff in its branches from next year and will gradually allow more leaders of the grass-roots unions under its umbrella to be elected by workers' representatives.

The week-long strike at Honda supplier Atsumitec ended Thursday after workers and management agreed to a 45 percent increase in the basic wage from 980 yuan a month to 1,420 yuan. And the Guangdong provincial government is currently drafting Regulations on the Democratic Management of Enterprises (广东省企业民主管理条例), which if implemented would establish a legally binding wage negotiation system.

Young migrant workers in Shenzhen, just like their parents, have to work long hours in hazardous conditions for low pay. The key difference between the generations, a new survey shows, is that the expectations of younger workers are much higher than their parents, seeking to establish a life for themselves in the city rather than return to the countryside.

Workers at a second Toyota plant in Tianjin went on strike on Thursday 17 June, causing production to be suspended. A brief strike at Toyota’s steering wheel manufacturer in Tianjin earlier on 15 June ended when management agreed to consider workers’ demands for higher pay. However, several workers at Tianjin Star Light Rubber and Plastic have expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of negotiations and are threatening to strike again if their demands are not met. Meanwhile, the trade union at the Honda components plant in Foshan, which did nothing to help workers in their successful strike action last month, is to be reformed and its leaders democratically elected by the employees, a senior Guangdong union official has said.

Emboldened by the successful strike of their colleagues at Honda’s transmission plant, about 250 workers at the company’s exhaust plant in Foshan went out on strike Monday morning (7 June) demanding higher wages and overtime payments. This followed an almost identical strike action at Taiwanese-owned Merry Electronics (美律电子有限公司) in Shenzhen’s Bao’an district, on Sunday morning.

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."

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."

A 10-day-old strike at a key Honda component factory outside Guangzhou has forced Japan's No 2 carmaker to suspend production in China, the world's largest and fastest-growing car market.

China’s official media has responded to Friday’s violent demonstration at a Taiwan-funded enterprise in Suzhou with calls for local governments and trade unions to better protect workers’ rights, and establish effective channels for dialogue between labour and management.