China Labour Bulletin recorded 569 incidents of strikes and protests during the fourth quarter of 2014, more than three times the number in the same period in 2013. Guangdong province continued to be the epicentre of worker activism in China, accounting for about 20 percent of all incidents. There has, however, been a sharp increase in the number of protests in several other provinces, with the number of incidents in Jiangsu, Shandong, and Henan jumping from 11, 6, and 6 respectively in the fourth quarter of 2013 to 43, 34, and 30 last year. There were 60 strikes in the transport sector, or just over ten percent of the total, down from 22 percent in the same quarter of 2013. One of the most notable features of the strike action seen in the last quarter were the 43 strikes and teachers, more than four times the number in the fourth quarter of 2013. After massive strikes by thousands of teachers in the north-eastern province of Heilongjiang in November in protest at low wages and a new pension scheme, more and more teachers in Henan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, and Anhui staged protests over wage arrears, performance-related pay schemes and forced overtime.
|
