Times are a changin'

It's that time of the year again when I begin to plan for our end-of-year issue and start thinking about some of the recurring policy and legislative trends we've seen in China over the last 12 months. Although we're not quite there yet, and the majority of the themes will be explored in the December/January edition as a recap, this month we feature a shift that has conspicuously grabbed headlines in 2010.

China's employment issues noisily made the media spotlight in the early summer with a spate of suicides occurring in Shenzhen, at Foxconn's factory grounds. Then Honda workers went on a wildcat strike that transformed the meaning of the Foxconn tragedies, forcing China to take a hard, long look at the way its labour force was being treated by employers. What countless public discussions and media editorials pronounced afterward was quite simple: PRC labour relations were changing, and changing quite rapidly. As employees (a younger generation – many were born in the 1980s and 1990s) grow more savvy, self-aware and knowledgeable of their rights, there has been an upsurge in labour unrest and disputes.

This month's employment feature focuses on two articles. One is about new legislation on further handling labour disputes (see page 18) and the other is an insightful commentary of recent policies relating to unionisation and collective bargaining (see page 21). Both finely sketch a portrait of how China is tackling employment disparities and is arming workers to demand better wages and treatment. However, she has not abandoned sense or handed the sceptre of power entirely into the workers' hands – in the new labour disputes rules, the employee is now tasked with the burden of proof to prove overtime work in disputes about overtime pay. It will be interesting to see how labour relations continue to shift as the new policies and laws are implemented over the next while.