The All-China Federation of Trade Unions, China sole trade union organization, amended its charter to address the rights of tens of millions of migrant workers in its 15th five-yearly national congress on 21 October 2008. There were 28 revisions made to protect the neglected rights of migrant workers. The congress itself was attended by 47 migrant workers representing 210 million rural residents who quit working the land to labour in city factories. The new charter states that migrant workers have the same rights to join the trade union as employees in companies and government agencies.

At present, according to the statistics from the federation, about 66 million, constituting less than one third of China’s massive army of migrant workers, have joined the trade union.

Source: South China Morning Post, 22 October 2008

High numbers of company closures and large redundancies have led to a surge in labour arbitration cases in Guangzhou. According to officials, more than 60,000 applicatinos had been made for arbitration this year. The figure is about the same as the combined totalf or the rpevioust wo years, one official, Xie Yingjian said.

About 60% of them are claims for back pay, with most of therest being appeals for compensation from people who have been made redundant.

Source: China Daily, 11 December 2008

In a 28-page report conducted by seven university students after a month of participatory research, Coca-cola has been accused of exploiting workers, including dispatched labour and other non-contracted workers, - some who have worked over 100 hours of overtime per months – above the 35-hour maximum stipulated by law.

Coca-Cola China has denied the report’s claims. The report calls for an apology from the company and correction of the violations, and also calls on people to stop drinking Coca-Cola beverages until the company takes action.

Source: China Daily, 16 December 2008