Sack them for Striking. Arrest them for Protesting. Imprison them for Organising – Chinese Workers Are Not Going to Give Up | China Labour Bulletin

25.2.17

Sack them for Striking. Arrest them for Protesting. Imprison them for Organising – Chinese Workers Are Not Going to Give Up | China Labour Bulletin: Take Wal-Mart for example. Since 2014, Wal-Mart ‘associates’ – workers to the rest of us – have built social media platforms through which workers share information and support resistance to the corporation’s introduction of flexible working hours. The ‘comprehensive working hours system’ does not just reduce overtime pay. It makes it hard for workers to plan family life or take the second jobs often required to meet basic living costs. In early July this year, strikes broke out across four stores. Blogs posted by workers and read by tens of thousands of Wal-Mart employees tell of store managers using the new work roster to target activists, especially those who refuse to sign up to the new system. The arrogance and at times bullying behaviour displayed by store managers belies Wal-Mart’s service values such as ‘Act with Integrity’ and ‘Respect for the Individual’.