With the traditional Lunar New Year holiday approaching, police across China have launched high-profile campaigns to crackdown on the malicious non-payment wages (恶意拖欠). An amendment to China’s Criminal Law early last year, which criminalized the non-payment of wages, has allowed police to detain factory bosses and labour contractors who flee owing large numbers of workers hundreds of thousands of yuan in unpaid wages.

Table of Contents

Part one: Those left behind

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Part one: Those left behind

Part two: Under the same blue sky? Rural migrant children in urban China

Part three: The government's response

Part four: Conclusions and recommendations

Table of Contents

Part one: Those left behind

Part two: Under the same blue sky? Rural migrant children in urban China

China Labour Bulletin appears in the following article. Copyright remains with the original publisher.

March 12, 2009

The global economic crisis has prompted several Chinese officials to make short-sighted comments. However, none have been more damaging than ACFTU Vice-Chair Sun Chunlan’s claim that the union needs to guard against hostile forces infiltrating the ranks of migrant workers. Photo by Saad Akhtar.

China Labour Bulletin appears in the following article. Copyright remains with the original publisher.

China Labour Bulletin appears in the following article. Copyright remains with the original publisher.

Tue Jan 27, 2009 9:02pm EST

By James Pomfret

SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) - As China's economic storm clouds darken and more firms face bankruptcy, factory workers such as Xiang Yongheng have seen their confidence badly shaken in authorities who are supposed to protect their labor rights.

The global economic crisis threatens to derail much of the progress made by China’s workers over the last few years. But as CLB Director Han Dongfang points out, the Labour Contract Law has not gone away, and workers understand now just how effective strike action can be. Photo by Saad Akhtar