Bullet Points - Dec 2024 : Factory workers continue to take action, but labour disputes have not yet entered into collective bargaining

In November, the CLB documented 160 collective actions by workers. Most of these occurred in the construction sector, with 74 cases, or 46% of the total. This was followed by the manufacturing sector, which recorded 54 cases, or 33.75% of the total. There were also 18 cases in the transport sector and six in the storage and postal sector.

Coastal areas continue to be the main sites of collective action by workers, with 30 cases in Guangdong Province, 16 cases in Zhejiang Province, 12 cases in Jiangsu Province and eight cases in Shandong Province. As for inland areas, there are 7 cases in Sichuan Province and 7 cases in Hunan Province. The main reasons for these collective actions are mostly wage arrears and factory relocation. In Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, workers protested after a textile factory was relocated and workers were laid off.

The CLB recorded 55 incidents on the calls-for-help map. It is important to note that although the number of incidents has decreased, the main reason for this change is the revision of the People's Daily "Leader's Message Board". This board was the primary source of information for the China Labour Bulletin. Following the revision, only the ten most recent articles are searchable. In addition, the Leader's Message Board has been equipped with a special, private collection box for collecting wage arrears cases, further reducing the number of available sources of information.

In Foshan City, Guangdong Province, workers at a furniture factory protested and threatened to jump due to unpaid wages.

“Now someone committed suicide with scissors. Now I Can't get even 1 cent.”

On November 17, dozens of workers gathered at the Comfort Stretch(康飞乐) headquarters in Foshan to demand their wages. Some workers alleged in comments that they were owed more than 1 million yuan in wages. In the text description of the video, the workers said that someone was trying to commit suicide and wanted to demand wages from the factory.

One worker pointed out that he received June's salary, but there were also comments below saying that he did not receive June's salary either. This means that Comfort Stretch owes workers wages for at least half a year.

This is also a typical case of factory wage arrears. The furniture factory may have run into operating difficulties due to insufficient cash flow or industry competition. In the end, workers were owed wages. In the video, no union representatives were seen intervening, nor were there any collective labour negotiations.

In Yongzhou City, Hunan Province, workers protested over wage arrears at a residential construction project

On November 12, in Yongzhou, Hunan, a case of workers asking for wages turned into a brawl. Nearly 100 workers gathered in Yongzhou, Hunan Province. The workers kept chanting, "Give me back my hard-earned money." On the other side was a shield formation composed of more than 90 security guards. The security guards held shields and pushed away the gathered workers.

In an interview, a worker said that the company owed him 140,000 yuan and also owed money to other workers. At that time, the community hired security guards to try to stop the workers. During the conflict, five workers were beaten and injured. Other workers saw that the security guards were acting violently and holding shields, so they did not dare to step forward. Later, police officers arrived at the scene to maintain order.

In an interview, the Wutong Police Station in Lengshuitan District, Yongzhou City, which dispatched police officers, said it did not want to disclose any case details due to privacy concerns.

In Yongzhou City, Hunan Province, workers at a school went on strike due to wage arrears

According to one of the students’ parent, Mrs. Shi, the school issued a notice through the parent group at the end of October, announcing a holiday from November 2 to 5, but in fact classes were suspended as early as the evening of October 31. As of November 6, the school has not resumed classes.

Mrs Shi mentioned that the tuition fee for one semester at Pingzhou Middle School is as high as 15,800 yuan, and there are also rumours that there are only 3,000 yuan left in the school account. In addition, a teacher said that the school did owe wages, but did not disclose further details. Lengshuitan District Education Bureau staff said they are conducting coordination meetings with parents.

By November 7, Mrs. Shi reported that students had resumed regular classes. However, parents in the parent group still ask about teachers’ salary payment status, and teachers say their salaries have not yet arrived.

On December 20, SOMO released its latest report on supply chain and labour rights violations. The report mentioned that SOMO studied 136 cases, of which 84 were in the electronics industry and 52 were in the apparel industry. It found 33 cases of rights violations in the electronics industry and 12 in the apparel industry. 37.8% of these protests were related to wage arrears. In addition, about 30% of the cases were related to factory relocation or closure. As SOMO and CLB emphasised, how brands respect human rights in supply chain operations is an unavoidable issue. Even if suppliers close down, brands must ensure that labour rights are not violated in the process.

China Labour Bulletin recently published the last chapter of our healthcare workers' report: Unprotected yet Unyielding: The Decade-Long Protest of China’s Healthcare Workers (2013-2023).

This report shows the difficulties faced by Chinese medical staff since the epidemic, including long working hours, unequal treatment, wage arrears, etc. It also analyses the reasons behind the policy, including privatisation reform, unequal internship system, etc.

The report noted that unions even undermined workers' collective decisions. For instance, in the Putian Hanjiang Hospital case, the union is planning to reorganize the employee representative conference. Although only 15% of medical staff agreed to the reorganisation, the reorganisation continued.

We also made suggestions at the end, hoping the union would effectively represent the medical staff and respect their opinions instead of indulging in "formalism."