The suicide nets are still there. Foxconn, the giant electronics manufacturing subcontractor, installed them in 2010, a year when fourteen workers died after jumping from the ledges and windows of crowded dormitories. In addition to the wide mesh nets, stretched low over the streets of Foxconn’s company towns, the corporation has twenty-four-hour “care centers,” “no suicide agreements,” and a psychological test to screen out potentially suicidal workers, charged to the job applicant. It has raised wages significantly, but only in the face of runaway inflation, steep hikes in the minimum wage, and mounting worker unrest. Media attention and pressure from Apple, one of its main customers, backed up by a program of regular factory audits, seem to be driving incremental improvements in working conditions.

China’s workers have demonstrated remarkable solidarity and organizational skill for several years now in strikes and protests across the country. They are now demanding a better trade union too.

The right to strike came up again during the annual parliamentary gathering in Beijing last week. Ge Jianxiong, head of Fudan University Library, suggested that the right to strike be restored to the Chinese constitution, telling the Financial Times that strikes were an effective way of defending workers’ rights, and should be legally protected.

The number of worker protests in China fell, as expected, last month because of the Lunar New Year holiday. Nevertheless, almost as soon as the week-long break concluded, workers went out on strike again.