TY - JOUR PY - 2010// TI - Chinese migrant workers: From labour surplus to labour shortage: "Help wanted": China's migrant workers have been slow to return to the cities & those who have returned have now demanded higher wages JO - International Journal of China Studies A1 - Hannan, K. SP - 393 EP - 412 VL - 1 IS - 2 N2 - In mid-2010 a public spotlight was shone on the wages and conditions of China's rural-to-urban migrant workers when there were a number of worker suicides at the giant Foxconn conglomerate's factories in Shenzhen. However, this was not all that was happening. More importantly, and at the same time, strike action was being taken by car-workers at Honda and Toyota plants. There were also reports of strikes by workers in textile, electronic enterprises (other than the Foxconn factories and including at the Japanese Brother sewing machine company), and sporting goods manufacturers, together with a range of other export production enterprises.1 It is now widely recognized that the recent increases in migrant worker wages owe much to the publicity afforded the Foxconn troubles and particularly the work stoppages in the automobile and other export manufacturing sectors. The wage increases have been substantial. As much as a sixty-six per cent increase has been promised to Foxconn's migrant workers in the Taiwanese-owned multinational's Shenzhen plant and between twenty and thirty per cent wage increases are cited as a consequence of the Honda strike action and in the case of a range of other export manufacturing enterprises.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 2180-3250 UR - http://dx.doi.org/ ID - ref1 ER -