"After years of pandemic anomalies, worker strikes and protests are on the rise across industries in China", 28 July 2023

In the first half of 2023, China Labour Bulletin’s Strike Map recorded 741 incidents, catching up with the 2022 annual total of 830 incidents. If this trend continues, a conservative estimate of 1,300 incidents in 2023 would reach a post-pandemic high and come near to the 2019 figure of 1,384 incidents collected.

From an industry perspective, manufacturing has seen the greatest increase in strikes and protests, from 10 in January to 59 in May. In the construction industry, workers have consistently protested over wage arrears at a rate of about 50 incidents per month.

In May, CLB analysed the sharp rise in worker protests sparked by a wave of factory shutdowns and relocations, particularly in coastal regions...The electronics sector and garment and apparel sector have been hardest hit...The most common worker demands in the manufacturing sector related to factory relocation and closure. An example is the situation of Foxconn workers in Zhoukou, Henan province, protesting in May 2023...

China’s construction industry has remained the leader in the worker protests recorded in the CLB Strike Map....As China’s real estate market is contracting, some companies have a surplus of vacancies, leading to difficulty paying contractors. This leads to worker protests over unpaid wages.

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Service worker protests rank third...The traditional retail industry is facing competition from e-commerce platforms, and the effect of the pandemic in the past two years has led to the closure of many outlets of brick and mortar hypermarkets and supermarkets, which has led, in turn, to defaulting on workers’ wages. Carrefour stores across China have been reported for forced layoffs and delays in payment of severance compensation.

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In transport and logistics industry, workers for new and old transport modes resist oppressive working conditions...Drivers of Huolala (Lalamove), an online freight platform, launched several strikes in May...dissatisfied that Huolala had reduced freight prices four times consecutively, and that other policies had cumulatively lowered drivers’ incomes.

Official responses from trade union and authorities have not been enough to protect labour rights...In some cases, the actions of trade unions even directly conflict with the interests of workers.