Reply #25: Glad that China is making some "progress." [View All]

[pampango]

The article says that labor costs (wages?) in China are rising. That is good. Given the sacrifices made in the US, I hope that Chinese workers are beginning to benefit.

"The proposed law is being debated after Wal-Mart Stores, the world’s biggest retailer, was forced to accept unions in its Chinese outlets." That's a bit of progress, even though before this new legislation, unions in China were very controlled by the government.

The proposed new law "underscores the government’s growing concern about the widening income gap and threats of social unrest, is setting off a battle with American and other foreign corporations that have lobbied against it." Ha, for the good ol' days of universal poverty and equality (except for those party leaders who were more "equal" than others). I do not know of any country that has industrialized without some concentration of wealth (either corporate exploitation or government exploitation ), but I am glad that the Chinese government is proactively dealing with this concentration and its social consequences, assuming that the new laws will be enforced.

It is a shame, though, that foreign corporation have (predictably and selfishly) opposed this new legislation. They can read the handwriting on the wall. If China does achieve some level of prosperity and workers' rights in the long run, the gravy train will be over for them. China will have used these corporations to achieve its development goals, create a self-sustaining domestic economy, then told them to either stay under new rules of move on and let Chinese companies take over.