The explosion of labor action in Chinese cities, including the high-profile Honda protests, is bearing some political fruit. Guangdong is working on a set of reforms to to give muscle to collective-bargaining laws that have thus far existed mostly on paper. According to the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin (CLB), although the “collective consultation system” has been on the books for twenty years, Guangdong has just given workers two advantages

The name gives no hint of the revolutionary changes afoot for mainland workers. Yet the proposed Regulations on the Democratic Management of Enterprises, now being debated by the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress, could give Chinese labor the ultimate—and until now taboo—bargaining tool: an officially sanctioned right to strike. "This has been a no-go area in China for decades," says Robin Munro, deputy director at the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin. All Chinese workers belong to one union, but it wields little power. "This is the first time ever Chinese authorities have said it is O.K. to strike."

The name gives no hint of potential changes for workers’ rights. Yet the proposed Regulations on the Democratic Management of Enterprises, under debate in the Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress, offers Chinese labor a new bargaining tool: an officially sanctioned right to strike.

Officials in Guangdong province – for years the country's manufacturing heartland – are debating proposals which activists say could be a landmark, allowing workers to democratically elect representatives to carry out collective bargaining.

The week-long strike at Honda supplier Atsumitec ended Thursday after workers and management agreed to a 45 percent increase in the basic wage from 980 yuan a month to 1,420 yuan. And the Guangdong provincial government is currently drafting Regulations on the Democratic Management of Enterprises (广东省企业民主管理条例), which if implemented would establish a legally binding wage negotiation system.

Workers at Japanese electronics maker Omron's southern China factory have gone on strike, the latest disruption in the manufacturing hub over demands for better wages and working conditions.

A strike has broken out at a south China factory supplying parts for Japan's Honda Motor, the latest in a string of stoppages by Chinese workers demanding a bigger piece of the country's economic wealth. The strike, at Atsumitec Co. in the city of Foshan, began on Monday, with about 90 of the plant's 200 workers stopping work to demand a nearly 60 percent pay increase, said a worker who declined to be identified.

After a morning of confrontation with his bosses at an auto parts factory in southern China, Wei took a different route home to avoid the plain-clothes police tailing him. As soon as he reached his building, Wei darted up a flight of stairs to his small rented room and logged onto a desktop computer.

Zhang Liwen found out that she was about to go on strike over a breakfast of steamed buns and congee rice porridge at her factory dormitory. Fifteen minutes later, she was taking part in industrial action for the first time in her life.

abour rights campaigners have warned that more industrial discontent is likely in China despite a round of minimum wage increases that took effect yesterday. The minimum pay rates in at least nine provinces and cities were increased, in some cases by as much as a third, after a series of strikes over pay at manufacturing plants.