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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Friday, January 20, 2012

Unrest forces China to increase minimum wages


Workers on strike blocking the entrance gate of Hi-P International factory yell slogans during a protest in Shanghai.   Labor actions in China are increasing.   (REUTERS photo)

A 23% increase in wages in one province


China is raising minimum wages in some key cities and provinces as local officials try to combat labor shortages and growing worker unrest.

The southern city of Shenzhen, a major manufacturing center on the border with Hong Kong, will raise its minimum wage by nearly 14 percent to 1,500 yuan ($238) from February, according to a statement.

Authorities in the capital Beijing raised wages by almost 9 percent to 1,260 yuan from Jan. 1, while the southwest province of Sichuan also hiked wages by at least 23 percent, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The moves follow a series of strikes across China since November, as workers protest low salaries, wage cuts and poor conditions amid company cutbacks due to the global economic slowdown.

Persistently high inflation - which peaked at a three-year-high of 6.5 percent in July last year but has since retreated - has also cut into people’s spending power.

In the latest strike, some 2,000 steel workers in Sichuan’s provincial capital of Chengdu walked off the job  to protest low salaries, according to the U.S.-based rights group China Labor Watch.
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(Hurriyet Daily News)

The ever so "happy" workers of Communist China are getting angry and
going on strike for higher wages and better working conditions.


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