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Strike at Honda shows neglect of workers' wages
Source: Xinhua |
June 2, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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THE strike at the Honda Auto Parts Manufacturing Co in southern China last month is a timely reminder of the social strains brought about by being the "world's factory."
The strike since May 17 by workers demanding a wage hike in Guangdong's Foshan City halted the operation of Honda's four Chinese automobile assembly plants for most of last week.
Thousands of workers walked off the job and demanded an increase of wages that average 900 to 1,000 yuan (US$132-146) per month. The minimum living standard in Foshan is 920 yuan per month.
For decades, tens of millions of Chinese laborers have worked, often away from their homes and families, to fuel China's rapid economic growth, and China has built its global competitiveness and attracted foreign investment by taking advantage of its relatively cheap labor.
Despite the fact that the country built the "world's factory" with the sweat of these laborers, their view of economic development is often neglected.
The proportion of workers' salaries in China's distribution of national income has been shrinking year by year, and many firms are accustomed to taking advantage of cheap labor in their pursuit of profits.
In 2000, Chinese workers' incomes accounted for 51.4 percent in the distribution of national income. That dropped to 39.7 percent in 2007.
According to the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), almost a quarter of Chinese employees had not received a salary increase in five years.
More than two thirds of employees earn less than the national average monthly salary of 2,152 yuan per month, and 17 percent of workers get by on a monthly salary of less than 1,000 yuan.
"The price of labor in China has indeed been twisted and much undervalued," Chang Xiuze, a research fellow with the economic institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, told Xinhua.
Meanwhile, the growth rate of workers' incomes is also lagging behind that of the country's economy. From 2002 to 2009, China's GDP registered an average annual growth rate of about 10.1 percent, while that of the Chinese workers' incomes rose by about 8.2 percent on average each year.
However, even though cheap labor has greatly contributed to China's rapid growth in trade and economy as well as its foreign reserves, economic development should not come at the price of the dignity of ordinary laborers, and the advantage of China's relatively cheap labor should not be taken for granted.
At a rally held in Beijing ahead of International Labor Day on May 1, President Hu Jintao called for efforts to make sure that laborers could work in a decent manner.
His call echoed Premier Wen Jiabao's promise of greater dignity earlier this year.
"Everything we do, we do to ensure that people live a happier life with more dignity and to make our society fairer and more harmonious," Wen said told the National People's Congress in March.
Indeed, a reasonable salary and a fair chance to enjoy the fruits of one's work should be part of the promised decent life and greater dignity, lest the wealth gap grow wider and social harmony is threatened.
The strike since May 17 by workers demanding a wage hike in Guangdong's Foshan City halted the operation of Honda's four Chinese automobile assembly plants for most of last week.
Thousands of workers walked off the job and demanded an increase of wages that average 900 to 1,000 yuan (US$132-146) per month. The minimum living standard in Foshan is 920 yuan per month.
For decades, tens of millions of Chinese laborers have worked, often away from their homes and families, to fuel China's rapid economic growth, and China has built its global competitiveness and attracted foreign investment by taking advantage of its relatively cheap labor.
Despite the fact that the country built the "world's factory" with the sweat of these laborers, their view of economic development is often neglected.
The proportion of workers' salaries in China's distribution of national income has been shrinking year by year, and many firms are accustomed to taking advantage of cheap labor in their pursuit of profits.
In 2000, Chinese workers' incomes accounted for 51.4 percent in the distribution of national income. That dropped to 39.7 percent in 2007.
According to the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), almost a quarter of Chinese employees had not received a salary increase in five years.
More than two thirds of employees earn less than the national average monthly salary of 2,152 yuan per month, and 17 percent of workers get by on a monthly salary of less than 1,000 yuan.
"The price of labor in China has indeed been twisted and much undervalued," Chang Xiuze, a research fellow with the economic institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, told Xinhua.
Meanwhile, the growth rate of workers' incomes is also lagging behind that of the country's economy. From 2002 to 2009, China's GDP registered an average annual growth rate of about 10.1 percent, while that of the Chinese workers' incomes rose by about 8.2 percent on average each year.
However, even though cheap labor has greatly contributed to China's rapid growth in trade and economy as well as its foreign reserves, economic development should not come at the price of the dignity of ordinary laborers, and the advantage of China's relatively cheap labor should not be taken for granted.
At a rally held in Beijing ahead of International Labor Day on May 1, President Hu Jintao called for efforts to make sure that laborers could work in a decent manner.
His call echoed Premier Wen Jiabao's promise of greater dignity earlier this year.
"Everything we do, we do to ensure that people live a happier life with more dignity and to make our society fairer and more harmonious," Wen said told the National People's Congress in March.
Indeed, a reasonable salary and a fair chance to enjoy the fruits of one's work should be part of the promised decent life and greater dignity, lest the wealth gap grow wider and social harmony is threatened.
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