CLB's new research report on the workers' movement was published on July 9 2009.

The Wall Street Journal's China Journal and Reuters both gave the report prominent coverage, see below. While the trade union website Labour Start made the report one of its top stories for the week.

In China, What Workers Want
10 July 2009

Table of Contents

In January 2009, a young man working in Shanghai returned to his home village in Anhui for the Spring Festival. He recorded his observations in a blog, which sheds light on the life facing the millions of rural migrants returning home after losing their jobs in the cities. Photo of rural Anhui by Toby Simkin

China Labour Bulletin appears in the following article. Copyright remains with the original publisher.

2009-03-09
China's women have legal protection against workplace discrimination—at least in theory, they say.

AFP
HEFEI, China: Women check job listings as thousands gather at a job fair, Feb. 5, 2009.

China Labour Bulletin appears in the following article. Copyright remains with the original publisher.
By Tom Mitchell in Dongguan
Published: March 4 2009 18:39

About 70 workers laid off from a prison in Heilongjiang in 2003 were cheated out of their social security, medical and unemployment benefits. They filed petitions and lawsuits in an attempt to reclaim their benefits but all to no avail. And when they approached a local government office they were attacked by a group of thugs.

China Labour Bulletin appears in the following article. Copyright remains with the original publisher.

By Tom Mitchell in Dongguan and Patti Waldmeir in Shanghai
Published: February 8 2009 16:57 | Last updated: February 8 2009 16:57

Migrant workers in a food processing plant in Shandong worked 15-hour days in hazardous conditions, abused and exploited by management. During the final wage settlement, the boss hired local gangsters to intimidate and beat up the workers, even threatening to kill anyone who refused to accept the deal.

Shenzhen’s new residence card has been heralded in the official Chinese media as an important step towards the elimination of discrimination against migrant workers. CLB contends that it is little more than a cosmetic exercise that only really benefits the police. Photograph by 2dogs @ flickr.com

There are 110 million migrant workers in China aged between 16 and 40 years old.  They left home in the hope of building a better life for themselves and their family, yet when they start a family of their own, they are faced with a stark choice; either take their children to the cities and subject them to institutionalized discrimination, or leave them behind in the countryside in the uncertain care of relatives.