Editor’s Note
Happy year of the Snake! As we enter 2025, China’s economy faces persistent challenges. The much-discussed “lackluster recovery” of 2024 has offered little optimism, with GDP growth projected to hover between 4% and 5% this year. Fiscal pressure on local governments and an unstable job market are likely to impact workers’ incomes and employment choices. While Beijing’s recent stimulus measures, including a 10 trillion yuan debt-restructuring plan for local governments, aim to stabilise the economy, their long-term effects remain uncertain.
Internationally, US-China tensions continue evolving, extending into new energy sectors. While some foresee a temporary easing of hostilities, others warn of renewed friction under a new administration. These geopolitical shifts will undoubtedly further affect workers, from employment prospects to wages and benefits.
Following the Third Plenum in August 2024, the ACFTU chairman stressed the importance of aligning with its directives by enhancing union rights protection services and reforming the income distribution system. CLB will closely monitor the progress of these reforms.
In 2025, CLB will continue to push for greater accountability from both unions and corporations. Unions must prioritise workers' interests, while multinationals must address labour violations within their supply chains.
We are also delighted to announce that we are now on “Bluesky”, where we’ll share timely labour news and engage with you directly.
Thank you for your unwavering support. It will be a tough year, but we are committed to keep fighting.
Spotlight: Annual Map Analysis 2024
On the first day of the New Year, CLB published our in-depth report analysing the state of workers’ rights in China during 2024, featuring sections on various sectors, including construction, manufacturing, services, transport and logistics, and heavy industry. The Strike Map data reveals a stark reality: workers’ rights remain under threat as economic pressures mount. Wage arrears, sudden job losses, and failures in social insurance highlight deeper structural issues.
In 2024, we monitored 1,508 strikes. Worker unrest in the manufacturing sector remains at persistently high levels. Across the year, 451 protests were recorded - over 75% linked to payments arrears and relocations, often driven by cross-cutting, risk avoidance, and quick exits.
China's steel industry is currently grappling with challenges from oversupply and decreasing demand due to China’s green transition. This situation has been exacerbated by slowing urbanization, which has increased labour issues. Despite record steel exports in 2024, production actually fell by 1.7%, and declining prices have intensified competition in the market.
Mismanagement and financial scandals have also emerged, such as the situation at Linfen’s XinJinShan Special Steel, where over 2,000 workers were left unpaid and took to the streets to protest for their wages and compensation. Shaanxi Hanzhong Iron & Steel workers have engaged in prolonged protests of over six billion yuan for unpaid wages and social insurance, highlighting systemic neglect within the industry. The protests began as early as mid-October and continued until early December.
Dive Deeper into the Strike Map
Read the Full Analysis
Explore the Strike Data
2024 December Map Trends
This month, the Strike Map recorded a total of 171 incidents; coastal cities remain key hotspots for collective labour actions, with Guangdong (广东) having 32 cases, Fujian (福建) 11, Zhejiang (浙江) 13, and both Shandong (山东) and Jiangsu (江苏) reporting 10 each. As for inland provinces, Shaanxi (陝西) and Henan (河南) each recorded 11 cases.
In December 2024, the construction industry remained the predominant sector for collective actions, comprising 53.22%, followed by the manufacturing sector at 33.92%. Furthermore, wage arrears constituted the primary reason for nearly all collective actions, accounting for 92.98%. Furthermore, two cases related to factory relocation or closure were also identified. State-owned enterprises comprised half (44 cases) of construction industry collective actions.
On our calls-for-help map, we monitored workers’ cases from Jiangsu (江苏), Xinjiang (新疆), Gansu (甘肃), and Guizhou (贵州) specialising in exterior wall or exterior insulation projects who had completed their work but had not been paid. Many similar workers’ testimonies appear on Weibo, suggesting that migrant workers involved in small-scale construction projects are experiencing issues with unpaid wages.