Workers at six out of ten factories in Dongguan owned by Taiwanese multinational Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings [6] have been on strike since April 14 after discovering the company has not been paying its 70,000 employees legally required levels of social security and housing contributions. At least 10,000 Yue Yuen workers took to the streets the day the strike began. Yue Yuen produces shoes for sportswear brands including Nike, Adidas and Asics. The strike is emblematic of a new wave of labor struggles in Guangdong, where Dongguan is located, and other industrial regions of China. Samsung, Lenovo, Nokia and Wal-Mart are among the companies hit by stoppages in recent weeks. Strikes are up by almost one-third in the first quarter of 2014 compared to the same period last year, according to research by Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin [7]. The group's findings also reveal "a more forceful response from the local authorities," with a four-fold increase in police interventions and a sharp rise in arrests. This trend is confirmed by recent trials of worker activists and strike organizers. (Bloomberg [8], April 19; China Worker [9], April 17; China Labour Bulletin [10], April 14)
Recent months have seen walk-outs by factory workers in Shanghai [11] and Shenzhen [12], as well as dockworkers in Hong Kong [13], although harsh control of information in China makes keeping track of job actions [14] a challenge for researchers.