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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.
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Chongqing SWAT team wins wage arrears for migrant workers: Latest publicity stunt gets the popular vote
10 May 2011
In a scene more reminiscent of an action movie than traditional Chinese propaganda, China Smack has an interesting new post showing how the Chongqing police and government officials were heroically called in to a construction site to get back wages in arrears for migrant workers, and break up the gang that had been hired to keep them in check.
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Indian official hails China's "flexible" labour laws
28 January 2011
India can still learn from both China’s successes and failure. One option might be to reform labour laws to encourage manufacturing, while also ensuring that independent (non-party affiliated, worker-centred) trade unions are able to organize in the private sector in order to ensure more equal economic development. This could, dare I say, help provide for a more harmonious society.
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Once again, labour issues hot topic in domestic media
30 November 2010
Looking at influential newspaper Southern Weekend (南方周末) – one couldn’t help but notice that three of the top ten “most popular” articles are directly linked with distortions in the labour market.
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Beida Prof needs to take elementary school science class
17 November 2010
Many people in China are talking about China’s first employment discrimination lawsuit based on the prospective employee’s AIDS status. The plaintiff, known by his pseudonym Xiao Wu, filed an anti-discrimination lawsuit in the Yingjiang District Court in Anqing on 26 August after the Anqing education department denied him a teaching position because he was HIV positive. The court formally accepted the case on Monday August 30, but the court ruled against him on 12 November. Xiao Wu, however, plans to appeal.
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Collective bargaining and raising wages may be in China’s strategic interests
06 October 2010
Although Chinese policymakers are very weary of "instability", they may not necessarily see workers demands for higher wages as a bad thing.
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The humanity of Chilean mine saga: a poignant contrast with China
01 September 2010
On 5 August 2010, more than 33 miners were trapped deep inside a mine, causing many to fear for the worst. However, remarkably, 17 days later, the miners were found to be still alive, to the relief and joy of their families and countrymen. After reading news stories of the events and watching video, one couldn’t help but be struck by the stark contrasts with Chinese post-incident report coverage:
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Are "hometown unions" the best defenders of migrant workers' rights?
20 August 2010
Recently in Shaanxi province, 118 migrant workers – who were mainly from Hubei province – were beaten by 300 thugs while staging a protest to get back their back pay at a railway bridge construction project near the historic city of Xi’an. In total, thirty workers were injured, nine severely. But strangely, what has attracted attention to their case is not the horrific scale of violence used by the employer, but the way the dispute was eventually settled.
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People’s Daily cites gap between rich and poor as the most pressing issue in China, but solution still elusive
13 July 2010
“I would rather cry in a BMW than smile on the back of my boyfriend's bicycle”. This statement made by a female contestant, Ma Nuo, on a popular dating show has caused condemnation and controversy in China’s blogospere. Ma claims that she was taken out of context, but in any case, she gave a face and a name to rampant materialism, degeneration of values, and the notion that many young people will do anything to join China’s rising affluent elite, who have already become the world’s second largest buyers of luxury goods.
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Chongqing moves to address social livelihood issues
07 July 2010
Chongqing plans to spend over 300 billion yuan ($44.28 billion USD) on “the ten people’s livelihood issues” (民生十条) over the next year and a half. Of this whopping amount of money, 130 billion yuan will be spent on “resolving rural residents who enter the city’s hukou status” and 70 billion on public housing. Billions of yuan will be spent on increasing farmers’ incomes, micro-loans, health services, rural health care, school security and other programs. Also, notably, 5 billion yuan will be spent on education for “left behind” children. (See Xinhua’s chart for full breakdown).
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