Our 10 most recent articles.
Migrant worker studies philosophy to search for meaning in the workplace
Who will notice the physical, mental and “philosophical” exhaustion of China’s workers?
07 December 2021
Hong Kong food delivery drivers successfully negotiate with Foodpanda
Over 300 workers went on strike for two days, resulting in negotiations with management
03 December 2021
Occupational hazards affect workers across industries
Excessive overtime work is an occupational health and safety issue. In October, CLB looked at the data aggregated by Working Time Collective on working hours for those in China’s tech industry. Although China’s labour laws contain strong protections for workers, including a 40-hour work week, these laws are constantly broken by employers and then go unenforced by the authorities. Likewise, trade unions within enterprises fail to truly represent workers.
05 November 2021
Gas explosion in Shenyang takes five lives
On 21 October, a powerful gas explosion on a commercial street in Shenyang city, Liaoning province, killed five residents and injured 47. Over 15,000 households in the nearby area were affected by the explosion, which originated from a restaurant in a mixed-use complex.
26 October 2021
White-collar workers aggregate data on their long working hours
The anonymous collective Working Time and their digital organising have restarted discussion on the long working hours of China’s white-collar workforce. The collective began crowd sourcing information on various social platforms and posted a spreadsheet on QQ (Tencent’s social media platform), with over 6,000 workers sharing the scheduling practices of their companies. Millions have viewed the collected data.
22 October 2021
Platform labour regulations and unionising the gig economy
At China Labour Bulletin, we are saying goodbye to our retiring Communications Director, Geoffrey Crothall. CLB Executive Director Han Dongfang thanks Geoffrey for his long service to the organization: "During the past decade and a half, under Geoff’s guidance, the CLB team has successfully built a solid platform providing the most reliable information on the workers' movement and labour issues in China. I am very thankful for Geoff’s invaluable contributions."
07 October 2021
In India, gig workers challenge platforms online in war of words
Kunal Purohit reports from Mumbai on how gig workers are exposing exploitative practices on social media to reach an important ally: consumers
30 September 2021
ACFTU in Beijing issues guidelines for unionizing gig workers: What comes next?
The Beijing Municipal Federation of Trade Unions (BMFTU) has introduced guidelines designed to regulate and encourage unionization for “gig” delivery drivers, workers and labourers in China’s capital city.
28 September 2021
China’s social security system
Every employee in China is supposed to have a pension, medical and unemployment insurance, and a range of other welfare benefits. In reality, the system has largely failed to provide workers, and rural migrant workers in particular, with the social security they need and are legally entitled to.
18 August 2021
Hong Kong food delivery workers protest pay and working conditions
Following last month’s strikes and protests by food delivery workers in mainland China, drivers in Hong Kong staged a protest outside the company headquarters of Foodpanda on 15 July.
22 July 2021