Workers Protest

Posted on 19 July 2010.

"Industrial unrest has been spreading through China's factories, with strikes breaking out in the south, east and north... Strikes have been rippling from factory to factory," according to the BBC.

In one example, the report says, "Outside Merry Electronics in Shenzhen workers blocked the road. Footage taken with a mobile phone shows them pushing and shoving in a face-off with government security officers. The strike... was spontaneous, triggered by anger that the factory was not paying overtime rates for work at weekends. So for labouring seven days a week, 11 hours a day, the migrants were earning less than a dollar an hour."

During June, Honda had to halt production at two of its four car assembly factories in China after a strike by workers at one of its Chinese parts facilities. It was the second time in two weeks that Honda's Chinese production had been hit by a walkout over pay at a local supplier. The earlier strike at a gearbox plant had closed all four of its China factories. Honda's strike was described as "quite unprecedented". The workers demanded not just a pay rise, but also that they be allowed to elect their own union representatives because, they said, the official union hadn't helped them at all.

Other strikes were reported at a sporting goods supplier in Jiangxi province and at a sewing machine maker in Xian - both far from China's main economic zones. "The unrest is a worry for the Communist Party, which has long discouraged independent worker action and punished protesters," reports Reuters. "President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have vowed to lift the incomes of hundreds of millions of farmers and workers, but officials are also trying to boost exports... The rising demands of those workers, especially pressure for autonomous unions, could present hard choices for the government, which treats such demands as a threat to precious stability."

Wen Xiaoyi, a researcher at the China Institute of Industrial Relations, said, "This is a signal to the government that it has to adapt to treating labour disputes as a part of economic life, not as a political threat. So far, I think the government has been relatively restrained... But if this spreads and the economic and political demands grow, that will test the tolerance of the government" (Reuters).

Duan Yi, a lawyer who has advised some of the recent strikers, comments, "The new generation of workers born in the 80s and 90s are not like their parents. They want to make a life in the cities. So they are becoming better organised and more rebellious than ever before" (Reuters).

Pray for factory owners and other employers who are faced with strikes and protests from their staff. May they recognise when the workers' complaints are justified and have wisdom as to how best to deal with each situation.

Pray for workers who feel that they are paid too little or treated unjustly. Pray that they might have opportunities for their grievances to be heard sympathetically and that they might receive a helpful response. Pray that they will not resort to violence to try to achieve their aims.

Pray that China's top leaders might respond with understanding and discernment as they hear reports of these protests. Pray that any actions taken might be of benefit to all and lead to effective solutions.