In this edition: Manufacturing sector experiences labour shortage during peak season; tech companies eliminate overtime pay for contractual workers; government circular signals possible pay cuts at financial sector SOEs; smaller cities unable to support local bus routes, leaving drivers unpaid; young lawyer takes own life in the face of harsh legal work culture; air conditioning installation accidents surge this summer
Read more...One year on, few details available about detention of activists Wang Jianbing and Sophia Huang Xueqin
Journalist Jessie Lau writes for CLB on the activists’ disappearance and their respective work promoting and defending labour rights in China
Read more...August 2022 labour news roundup: Youth unemployment at record high for fourth consecutive month
In this edition: “Frictional unemployment” describes young people’s job prospects; live streamers experience labour disputes and excessive working hours; hospitals in financial crisis cannot pay wages and benefits; real estate recession leads to layoffs in steel industry; truck drivers on China’s “green passage” face challenges; workers suffer under extreme temperatures
Read more...Food delivery driver stabs self in protest over fines and unpaid wages
Two years on from the viral investigation, “Delivery Drivers, Trapped in the System,” the industry has seen little regulatory change or union representation for workers’ obvious needs
Read more...July 2022 labour news roundup: Widespread heat stroke and successive pandemic waves affect China’s workers
Heat stroke leads to worker deaths, injuries; Covid-19 employment discrimination persists; youth unemployment rate at all-time high; civil servants see pay cuts; government regulates transport sector to relieve burdens on truck drivers
Read more...June 2022 labour news roundup: Restaurant closures leave millions of workers without jobs
Catering industry stalls under high operating costs; delivery drivers detained for violating Shanghai’s pandemic prevention regulations; construction companies transfer Covid-positive workers to unhygienic facilities; all levels of government urged to hire new graduates; physical examinations lead to insidious employment discrimination
Read more...Pandemic prevention measures lead to variety of worker protests
China’s white-clad pandemic “volunteers” protest unpaid wages, poor working conditions
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