Q+A-What does China's labour unrest mean for foreign companies?

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE65O01S20100625

June 25 (Reuters) - A burst of strikes in south China has disrupted production at auto makers Toyota (7203.T) and Honda (7267.T), showing how the country's workers are becoming more assertive in seeking improved wages.

Here are some questions and answers about what this could mean for foreign companies operating in or sourcing from China.

HOW SERIOUS ARE THE STRIKES?

So far the high-profile strikes have mostly hit parts suppliers for vehicle plants run by Japanese companies and their local joint-venture partners, and have been settled after talks over a few days. That's a sliver of a vast workforce.

The ruling Communist Party is wary of wider unrest that could erode its grip on power, and would quickly seek to snuff out any signs that these strikes were igniting wider confrontation.

But the copy-cat chain of strikes shows a workforce that is becoming bolder, and that may prompt some companies to pre-emptively raise wages.

"The strikes have been concentrated in a few areas and companies, but there are broader pent-up problems," said Chang Kai, a labour relations professor at Renmin University in Beijing who advised workers striking at a Honda parts factory.

FULL story at link.

[hobbit709]

1. They'll go to some low wage third world country.

Viet Nam, or similar.

[JHB]

2. Or the Party decides it's worth it to themselves to treat the strikers the same way they treated...

...the Tianenmen Square protests back in '89.

Tolerated, for a time, then ruthlessly crushed.

[burnsei sensei]

3. I hope they mean

consciousness-raising in a certain country that claims to be free, where labor activism of every shade has been bitterly repressed since the early 19th century, management has a corrupt hegemony, and investors are mostly indifferent.
The labor movement between 1877 and 1945 created a large, thoughtful and vibrant middle class.
Taft-Hartley and union busting destroyed that middle class.
When do we take back the authority over ourselves that belongs to us?