2012-01-11

Strikes in China grab headlines, but no widespread change in activity

Hundreds Threaten Suicide At Microsoft Supplier Plant In China
Some 300 Chinese Foxconn employees who manufacture X-box 360 machines said they would throw themselves from their Wuhan, China, plant if demands for lost wages were not met.
Recall the Foxconn suicides where Apple products are made, which led to wage increases. Also see Strikes erupt in China’s Sichuan province.
Thousands of workers from the state-owned company Pangang Group Chengdu Steel & Vanadium (known as Chengdu Steel) went on strike on January 4 over low wages in Chengdu, the capital of the inland province of Sichuan. The New York-based China Labour Watch put the number of strikers at 2,000, but other reports estimated that 10,000 were involved. Hong Kong’s Ming Pao Daily News said 1,000 police were sent to block the workers, who marched to a crossroad of the Chengdu-Mianyang Highway near the factory.
Anecdotal coverage is up, but thus far there's no increase yet. Spring Festival starts in another week and workers head home for a long vacation. If there's to be an increase in strikes and labor disputes, it will happen after the holiday, but as of now, there's absolutely no signs of it. There should be an increase in labor disputes if social mood continues on its downward path.

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