Crux
24th July 2010, 01:20
China: strikers win new victories
Friday, 23 July 2010.
36 strikes for higher wages in Guangdong province during last 7 weeks
Vincent Kolo, chinaworker.info
Around 200 employees at Honda supplier Atsumitec in Foshan, Guangdong province, have ended their strike which began on 12 July. Workers accepted the bosses’ latest and much improved 47 percent increase. This takes basic wages at the plant from 980 yuan a month to 1,420 yuan. Workers also won a 250 yuan monthly living allowance and a performance related bonus. The outcome represents a significant victory after Atsumitec bosses had earlier tried strong arm tactics, hiring 100 temporary workers and threatening to sack striking workers if they did not return to work.
The 10-day stoppage at Atsumitec, which supplies gearshift levers to Honda assembly plants in China, was the tenth at a Honda-affiliated plant in China. Despite the Chinese dictatorship’s news blackout, workers are exchanging news on the net and the rash of strikes shows a sharply rising “learning curve” as workers take stock of the rapidly changing situation in this and other industries.
As the Atsumitec strike ended another began, at Japanese-owed electronic components maker Omron in Guangzhou, making switches and ignition keys for motor firms such as Honda, Ford and BMW. Over half the 800-strong workforce joined the strike demanding a 40 percent increase in basic pay, which at 1,270 yuan a month, is just 170 yuan higher than the minimum wage in Guangzhou. The growing trend of 40-plus percent pay claims is a sure sign that workers have had enough of spiralling living costs and wages that have barely risen for several years. The central government froze minimum wages in 2008 to shore up company balance sheets during the global capitalist crisis. Now, with the Chinese economy surging on a diet of credit-driven stimulus, and especially with the rapid expansion of motor production, workers want their share.
Guangdong province, dubbed the “factory of the world”, has experienced a strike wave since mid-May that has idled dozens of Chinese and foreign-owned factories and spread north to Shanghai, Tianjin and other industrial centres. Guangdong has seen at least 36 strikes for higher wages between May 25 and July 12, the government-run China Daily newspaper said. It said most workers received monthly raises of 100 yuan to 500 yuan ($15-$75).The strikers are mostly young workers in their 20s, representing a new generation that is more prepared to fight to improve their lot.
The capitalists are alarmed by the growing confidence of Chinese workers in a society where strikes are illegal and all forms of independent workers’ organisation are viciously repressed. The most important feature of this strike wave is that demands for “grassroots unions” have been raised time and time again. Workers’ hostility to the official management-friendly unions is at an all-time high.
The Chinese regime is treading a fine line in its handling of these strikes, fearing that a too brutal use of police repression can backfire and produce massive sympathy for the workers and open opposition to the regime. It hopes to weather the crisis through the “operation of the market”, with companies shouldering higher labour costs where and when they can afford it. The threats of some companies to withdraw from China and shift production to Vietnam, Bangladesh and other lower-wage economies will, they believe, curb rising worker militancy.
But most worrying for the ruling party are workers’ demands to overturn its worthless puppet trade union and replace this with a genuine force, independent of state control. To this end, the regime hopes increased pay and other modest improvements will cool workers’ willingness to fight for democratic trade unions. But such demands are unlikely to disappear. As workers’ confidence and experience of struggle increases we are likely to see the issue of genuine fighting trade unions pushed back onto the agenda.
Friday, 23 July 2010.
36 strikes for higher wages in Guangdong province during last 7 weeks
Vincent Kolo, chinaworker.info
Around 200 employees at Honda supplier Atsumitec in Foshan, Guangdong province, have ended their strike which began on 12 July. Workers accepted the bosses’ latest and much improved 47 percent increase. This takes basic wages at the plant from 980 yuan a month to 1,420 yuan. Workers also won a 250 yuan monthly living allowance and a performance related bonus. The outcome represents a significant victory after Atsumitec bosses had earlier tried strong arm tactics, hiring 100 temporary workers and threatening to sack striking workers if they did not return to work.
The 10-day stoppage at Atsumitec, which supplies gearshift levers to Honda assembly plants in China, was the tenth at a Honda-affiliated plant in China. Despite the Chinese dictatorship’s news blackout, workers are exchanging news on the net and the rash of strikes shows a sharply rising “learning curve” as workers take stock of the rapidly changing situation in this and other industries.
As the Atsumitec strike ended another began, at Japanese-owed electronic components maker Omron in Guangzhou, making switches and ignition keys for motor firms such as Honda, Ford and BMW. Over half the 800-strong workforce joined the strike demanding a 40 percent increase in basic pay, which at 1,270 yuan a month, is just 170 yuan higher than the minimum wage in Guangzhou. The growing trend of 40-plus percent pay claims is a sure sign that workers have had enough of spiralling living costs and wages that have barely risen for several years. The central government froze minimum wages in 2008 to shore up company balance sheets during the global capitalist crisis. Now, with the Chinese economy surging on a diet of credit-driven stimulus, and especially with the rapid expansion of motor production, workers want their share.
Guangdong province, dubbed the “factory of the world”, has experienced a strike wave since mid-May that has idled dozens of Chinese and foreign-owned factories and spread north to Shanghai, Tianjin and other industrial centres. Guangdong has seen at least 36 strikes for higher wages between May 25 and July 12, the government-run China Daily newspaper said. It said most workers received monthly raises of 100 yuan to 500 yuan ($15-$75).The strikers are mostly young workers in their 20s, representing a new generation that is more prepared to fight to improve their lot.
The capitalists are alarmed by the growing confidence of Chinese workers in a society where strikes are illegal and all forms of independent workers’ organisation are viciously repressed. The most important feature of this strike wave is that demands for “grassroots unions” have been raised time and time again. Workers’ hostility to the official management-friendly unions is at an all-time high.
The Chinese regime is treading a fine line in its handling of these strikes, fearing that a too brutal use of police repression can backfire and produce massive sympathy for the workers and open opposition to the regime. It hopes to weather the crisis through the “operation of the market”, with companies shouldering higher labour costs where and when they can afford it. The threats of some companies to withdraw from China and shift production to Vietnam, Bangladesh and other lower-wage economies will, they believe, curb rising worker militancy.
But most worrying for the ruling party are workers’ demands to overturn its worthless puppet trade union and replace this with a genuine force, independent of state control. To this end, the regime hopes increased pay and other modest improvements will cool workers’ willingness to fight for democratic trade unions. But such demands are unlikely to disappear. As workers’ confidence and experience of struggle increases we are likely to see the issue of genuine fighting trade unions pushed back onto the agenda.