On 1 November 2008, bus drivers in Chengdu went on strike to secure higher wages. The bus drivers did not bother to ask their company trade union for help in securing a pay rise, and organized the strike by themselves. The union chairwoman, Ms Wen, criticized the strike, calling it “unreasonable.”

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.

Migrant workers in a food processing plant in Shandong worked 15-hour days in hazardous conditions, abused and exploited by management. During the final wage settlement, the boss hired local gangsters to intimidate and beat up the workers, even threatening to kill anyone who refused to accept the deal.

CLB has translated some of the key provisions of the Shenzhen Municipal Implementing Regulations for the Trade Union Law of the People's Republic of China, an important and highly significant piece of legislation examined in our commentary A Turning Point for China’s Trade Unions.

The Implementing Regulations were:

China  Labour  Bulletin  appears  in  this article. Copyright remains with the original publisher

We may have reached a crucial turning point in the history of China’s trade union movement. For the first time since 1949, trade union officials are openly stating that the union should represent the workers and no one else, while new legislation in Shenzhen places collective bargaining – previously a no-go area – at the core of the union’s work. Photograph by lille abe@flickr.com

Draft regulations currently before the Shenzhen municipal legislature represent an important development in China’s labour law which could lay the groundwork for improved labour relations and give trade unions the opportunity to effectively represent workers in collective bargaining with management. Photograph. Migrant Workers in Shenzhen by Jervetson@flickr.com

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

China Labour Bulletin appears in this article. Copyright remains with the original publisher

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.