Photograph: chinahbzyg / Shutterstock.com
China’s medical student interns and post-graduate medical residents are not considered employees of the hospitals where they work. Many interns are given no remuneration at all, and residents only a monthly stipend of about 1,000 yuan. It is no wonder that as hospitals have been overburdened during China’s recent Covid-19 infection wave, overworked medical staff protested their pay and working conditions, asking for equal pay for equal work and better leave policies. CLB brings more on that topic below, in our analysis of our labour mapping data that shows a rise of incidents in the service sector at the end of 2022.
But first, don’t miss the content CLB has published recently:
- “The two worlds have no crossover”: Han Dongfang on China’s workers’ struggle under the pandemic. In this end-of-year commentary, CLB’s Executive Director gives his perspective on the state of workers’ rights in China, particularly at this juncture in which Covid-19 prevention policies have recently been relaxed and labour-related conflicts are rising to the surface. Published in late December, it was as if Han Dongfang could predict two other topics CLB published on in early January:
- Wage arrears after Zero Covid and before Lunar New Year is symptom of systemic problem. China’s top officials have recognised the backpay problem and its effects on vulnerable workers, including migrant workers - particularly this year as the issue is more acute after three years of lockdowns and with Lunar New Year approaching. But workers are no closer to being paid in full and on time, because the top-down system fails to ensure employers follow the law, and local governments are out of funds. And even when wages are paid, they are too low for many workers to survive. China’s trade union has a role to play in representing workers’ most basic right: being paid for their labour performed.
- Massive protest in Chongqing belies company’s recent labour awards from the official trade union. On 7 January in Chongqing, thousands of workers blocked streets and clashed with police during a protest over labour rights at a rapid test kit factory. Since 2020, Chongqing-headquartered Zybio has been given multiple labour awards by various levels of China’s official union, all while fundamental labour rights violations were brewing. CLB called the district union to investigate after workers protested the announced layoffs of about half the 20,000 factory workers, and workers feared their already overdue wages would not be paid out as promised.
- Worker fired over pregnancy wins historic civil claim for equal rights violation. Too often, gender discrimination cases fall outside the realm of employment rights, as the plaintiff is discriminated against in the hiring process and never establishes an employment relationship from which labour rights flow. Another issue is that the matter is treated as a private employment dispute and must begin with labour arbitration. However, in 2022, the first civil lawsuit claiming a broader equal rights violation on the basis of pregnancy discrimination was won by a worker in Guangdong province.
- Fatal truck accident highlights unclear labour relationships in platform economy. Two truck drivers died on the road while transporting goods in the course of business, but because of the complicated labour relationships in the platform economy, no entity would claim responsibility for workplace accident compensation to the families. China’s gig economy workers lack labour protections and have difficulty asserting their labour rights, all while the official trade union has prioritised these workers as part of its “eight major groups.” As the first article in a forthcoming series, CLB investigates cases of platform workers to raise the specific challenges and potential solutions for how China’s trade union could represent them, both individually and as a sector.
- December 2022 labour news roundup: Fresh labour challenges arise with end of Zero Covid. Medical workers and medical students staffing hospitals and fever clinics are overwhelmed with an influx of patients; some workers are told to work as normal if their Covid-19 infection is mild; and the manufacturing sector sees production stoppages and layoffs during what is typically the peak production period.
December 2022 data show rise in service sector incidents, notably medical worker protests
In December 2022, CLB’s Strike Map shows an increase in protests by service industry workers. The proportion of total incidents in the service industry increased from 17 percent in November 2022 to 32 percent in December 2022, and this can be partly attributed to public health policy changes affecting the medical industry. Out of 13 collective actions at medical facilities across China, seven involved graduate students and medical residents working in hospitals demanding equal pay for equal work and leave for the opportunity to return to their hometowns. These occurred in Jiangsu (two incidents), Hunan, Jiangxi, and Sichuan (two incidents) provinces, as well as in Chongqing.
Map: CLB Strike Map Incidents the Service Sector at Medical Facilities (December 2022)
With the sudden relaxation of pandemic prevention policies in China, the medical industry was overloaded to the brink of collapse. The number of Covid-19 infections soared, and hospitals had difficulty meeting demand, both for those with the virus and with other ailments. On 12 December, more than a hundred postgraduate medical residents protested near the affiliated hospital of Xuzhou Medical University in Jiangsu province. The post-graduates pointed out that the hospital only provided masks for its regular staff, and even resident doctors were not provided N95 masks. As a result, medical staff contracted the virus, leading to a staff shortage, Covid-positive staff remaining on the job, and labour exploitation of the medical residents. Residents reported monthly subsidies of only 1,300 yuan, and 100 yuan was deducted for each day absent due to Covid-19 isolation. If medical residents were isolated for more than seven days, they were required to work one additional month as part of their regular training as residents before being fully qualified doctors.
At the West China Clinical Medical College of Sichuan University on 11 December, more than 300 medical interns were unable to ask for leave as a result of a staff shortage and high-intensity work. These interns perform the same clinical work as the medical residents but receive no compensation and are also paying medical school tuition. Further, hospital staff were not regularly tested for Covid-19, and those contracting the virus were not permitted to take leave. These conditions led to protests at the hospital. In response, the hospital management allowed the workers to apply for voluntary return to their hometowns, and they were willing to pay comparable wages as other hospitals.
Contracting Covid-19 on the job is a health and safety issue. Our Workplace Accident Map recorded 28 total incidents in December 2022, nine of which were in the medical industry, and one involved construction workers contracting the virus on their worksite. A hospital in Changsha, Hunan province, reported on 27 December that 90 percent of its staff had contracted Covid-19, and other mass infections at hospitals occurred in Beijing and Hebei.
Bar Chart: Workplace Accident Map Incidents in Medical Industry (2022)
Other types of service industry workers also protested in December 2022. For example, employees of Gome, one of China’s largest electronics retailers, demanded their wages. Workers had been owed wages for a long period of time, and they were also owed social security benefits and performance bonuses. On 6 December in Beijing and 8 December in Sichuan, the company was besieged by employees requesting their payments, but the management took a hard-line approach.
The president of the company, headquartered in Beijing, told employee representatives that Gome would not pay wages for the second half of the year, and said in a letter: "If you want to stay, then sign. If you want to go, then don’t sign and go through the legal settlement procedures." That evening, Gome’s founder appeared at the negotiating table and said, "The employees are shameless." His words led to physical conflicts between several employees and security guards, which required police mediation. The Gome employees' salary discussion lasted for eight hours, and the problem has not been resolved.
CLB’s Workers’ Calls-for-Help Map likewise supports our Strike Map data in terms of the service sector and proportion of worker labour grievances by industry.
Pie Chart: Calls-for-Help Map Incidents by Industry (December 2022)
Regarding the labour rights challenges of service industry workers, China Labour Bulletin searched for signs of constructive union involvement in the labour disputes, but we could find no satisfactory evidence. In the situation of the Gome workers, the company is sure to have an enterprise union affiliated with China’s official union, but it likely does not have true worker representation and did not intervene in this wage arrears negotiation.
In the medical industry, all we found were various “sympathy actions” by unions, and there was no indication that unions were involved in mediating labour disputes between hospital employees and interns or residents. For example, on 7 January, the Chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Federation of Trade Unions, Zhao Junmin, went with a delegation to visit frontline medical workers. Zhao made a speech, saying that trade unions at all levels should increase their “sympathy efforts” and “coordinate and solve practical difficulties such as caring for the elderly and children relatives of frontline medical workers” and “care for the physical and mental health of frontline medical workers.”
The goal of the trade union actions is therefore to ensure the stability of the work of the medical staff. In other words, social stability takes precedence over workers’ interests such as job security, wage issues, and workplace conflicts.
Our maps are free and publicly available on our website. Feel free to explore our databases and discover patterns and trends for yourself. You can contact us at clbeditor@clb.org.hk.