“We are only a step away from the right to strike,” exults Chen. “The paper-thin barrier can be breached.”

Venkatesan Vembu, Daily News and Analysis

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Ken Mitchell

Workers in China may be just a step away from attaining the ultimate proletarian utopia — the right to strike, which they have been denied for nearly 30 years.

The revolutionary move is indicative of the tectonic changes under way in China’s economy, say labour activists, and could have far-reaching implications for China’s hitherto-low-wage manufacturing prowess and for companies that do business here.

Draft labour regulations, introduced in June by the municipal government of Shenzhen, the booming Special Economic Zone in southern China that has consistently set the pace for reforms across the country, have effectively brought the “taboo” subject of strikes “within the scope of legal regulation,” says Chen Yu of the Shantou Federation of Trade Unions.

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