In May 2010, in just one month, 10 consecutive large strikes took place in China, and there were countless smaller strikes. It can truly be said that strikes have become a raging storm. All these strikes occurred due to wages being too low, cadres being too corrupt and workers being subjected to unfair treatment.
Among these strikes, the one at the Japanese owned Honda automobile parts factory in Foshan, Guangdong Province is the most significant, and whose impact is the most far-reaching. On May 27 afternoon, nearly 2,000 front-line plant workers, wearing white work uniforms and donning face masks, walked out of the plant site several times, chanting "Strike to the end! Reorganize the trade union!", and "Without increase in wages, we will protest to the end!" and other slogans. Their strike led to stoppage of production at all other Honda plants in China.
The significance of the Foshan Nanhai parts plant strike is that it has a positive effect in promoting the increase in wages of all workers across China. It enables workers to see that trade unions in the factories are controlled by the authorities, take sides with capital in the face of labor disputes, and only add fuel to the fire. Therefore, workers realize that only by organizing their own independent trade union, can the workers’ own interests and rights be protected.
These strikes also exposed the truth about the so-called three decades of economic development: China’s economic growth during the past three decades has been achieved by the ruthless oppression and exploitation of the blood and sweat of workers; during the period, workers earned unthinkably low wages, and worked unthinkably long hours. They worked like oxen and horses, yet did not even have basic medical and health insurance.
During the three decades of economic development, China’s GDP growth rate was several times that of developed countries, but until now many Chinese workers’ monthly wage is still only a little more than 600 yuan a month. It can be seen how small has been the growth in workers wages in China during the period. Chinese workers are paid only 1/20 of that of U.S. workers, only 1/24 of that of Japanese workers. In the manufacturing sector, China's labor costs are even lower than that of India, whose rapid growth began only in the 1990s.
On the surface, Chinese workers’ low wages and poor treatment may seem to be caused by the labor surplus, in fact, the main responsibility lies with the government pretending not to see these injustices. This negative act of omission on the part of the government has resulted in the new labor law that came out belatedly in September 2008 becoming a mere formality, empty words on a scrap of paper. The main responsibility of the Chinese communist regime also lies in its control of trade unions, resulting in workers not having at all the independent power to contend with management for their own rights and interests.
For three decades, the growth of China's economy has not relied on people's spending to stimulate domestic demand, but on the export of cheap products by squeezing the blood and sweat of workers. What is more, in order to attract foreign investment, the communist regime not only turned a blind eye to the harsh exploitation of the blood and sweat of the Chinese people by foreign capital, but also helped aggravate the situation. Continuing down this development path, labor’s share of social resources become less and less, social conflicts become more and more intensified; finally, strikes become inevitable. In this long period of enduring low wages, low security assurance and lack of human rights, the most enduring and hard-working Chinese laborers’ endurance finally gave out and took the lead in resistance, they finally went on strike to protest against the extreme injustice they suffered during the past three decades.
Currently, the Communist Party’s Central Propaganda Department has issued orders prohibiting media reports about strikes, the mainland websites also began to remove news regarding strikes. However, paper cannot contain fire, even less can it cover up the full chronicle of worker strikes that are raging like fire. Frequent worker strikes are a significant hot spot in recent societal changes in mainland China.
As early as 2008, the China Interim Government issued a call for a nationwide strike. Today, in order to push forward workers strikes to become a movement to protect workers’ own rights, the Interim Government once again calls on workers to actively participate in strikes for their own rights and interests.
The China Interim Government also calls for Chinese workers to achieve the following objectives:
1. Economic objectives: demand increase in wages, improve and enhance employee benefits, including medical, injury treatment and paid vacation.
2. Organizational objectives: establish independent trade unions during the strikes, establish regional independent trade unions, and in turn establish an independent trade union nationwide. Resolutely refuse the setting up of open or secret Chinese Communist Party branches within the independent trade unions.
3. Social objectives: following the establishment and growth of independent trade unions, the trade unions should take on social responsibilities. In addition to caring for the welfare of employees, they should be concerned with regional and national social and public affairs, such as concern for human rights and humanitarian affairs, care for environmental protection, care for the livelihood of vulnerable groups, etc., and then in turn participate in international trade union affairs.
We must clearly see that without the right to free trade unions and the right to information, labor wages and benefits will not be protected. Therefore, workers cannot be content with just achieving the single immediate benefit of "increased wages", but also the more important and vital right to establish free trade unions.
We firmly believe that China's labor movement will mature, expand and strengthen in the strike movement, and will gain the concern and support of people throughout China. In the awakening of Chinese workers lie the hope for democracy and freedom in China!
China Interim Government
June 7, 2010
