Breanna Fehr. March 3, 2008. 10:50 p.m. Labor Problems
China as a communist country did the opposite of creating a workers’ paradise, instead it has exploited cheap labor to build a trade powerhouse. At first workers were just happy to be employed regardless of the hazards the job had. More often now workers are fighting back by staging strikes, demanding higher wages, overtime pay, and more safety.
As of January 1st workers lives could get a little better. The Chinese government passed a new law that requires businesses to give workers written contract and pay compensation if they’re fired. Labor activists have been teaching workers about their rights by distributing pamphlets about the new labor law. This has caused a lot of turmoil between the activists and the factories. A labor activist Huang Qingnan has been stabbed in broad daylight. He says that the factory owners are behind the attack because they don’t want to lose their profits.
The problem with this new law is that people can’t get severance for the time they worked before the law. They will only get severance for the time worked after signing the contract. If someone who has worked for a company for 10 years gets fired after the law has been in effect for a year only gets paid severance for that one year they worked.
I think it is really good that this law went into effect and that people are informing workers of their rights. It seems that it may have some affect on the companies since factory owners feel such a threat that they have to hire people to harm the activists spreading the news about the law. I would like to see how the law is actually enforced since often the people breaking the laws are over looked by the government agencies.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87774513
1 comment:
I agree with you that this is a step forward, however small, for laborers in China. As we have been made very aware through this course, factory workers have been exploited since the beginning of industrialization. It is a shame that the law only provides money from this point on, all we can do is hope people don't get laid off because of this new pension. It is crazy to think that people in favor of laborer's rights are being stabbed in broad daylight. Maybe the factory owners know they have something worth hiding.
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