Smlr_net October 2010

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NYTimes.com: China's Labor Tests Its Muscle
by ciudadviejo＠yahoo.com 31 Oct '10

31 Oct '10

This page was sent to you by: ciudadviejo(a)yahoo.com. TIMES TOPICS China's Labor Tests Its Muscle Updated: Aug. 16, 2010 Overview Assertive, self-possessed workers have become a challenge for the industrial titans of China that once filled their mammoth workshops with an endless stream of pliant labor from the nation's rural belly. As China's export-driven juggernaut has been revived and many migrants have found jobs closer to home, employers have been forced to compete for new workers — and prevent seasoned ones from defecting to sweeter prospects. A labor shortage has emboldened workers and inspired a spate of strikes in and around Zhongshan in the southeast that paralyzed Honda's Chinese operations in June 2010. The unrest spread to the northern city of Tianjin, where strikers briefly paralyzed production at a Toyota car plant and a Japanese-owned electronics factory. Many factories in Zhongshan have been operating with vacancies of 15 to 20 percent. Although the walkouts were quelled with higher salaries, sometimes doubled, factory owners and labor experts said that the strikes have driven home a looming reality that had been predicted by demographers: the supply of workers 16 to 24 years old has peaked and will drop by a third in the next 12 years, thanks to stringent family-planning policies that have sharply reduced China's population growth. The other new reality, perhaps harder to quantify, is that young Chinese factory workers, raised in a country with rapidly rising expectations, are less willing to toil for long hours for appallingly low wages like dutiful automatons. At the same time, China has rapidly expanded university enrollments, resulting in an already dwindling number of less-educated workers willing to accept the rigors and monotony of assembly lines. As the costs of doing business have risen in China, it is slowly losing work to countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia — at least for cheaper, labor-intensive g oods like casual clothes, toys and simple electronics. And the labor unrest is not limited to factory workers. During the past two years, laid-off bank workers have staged public protests and held sit-ins. Like many other state-owned companies, the banks slashed payrolls and restructured to raise profitability and make themselves more attractive to outside investors. And though smaller in number than factory workers, the bank workers - educated, organized and knowledgeable about the Internet - make use of online message boards, text messages, and frequently changed cellphone numbers. <a id="more" title="More" href="javascript:toggleLayer('moretxt'); javascript:toggleLayer2('more');">Read More...</a> <div id="moretxt"> Surging Expectations The factory strikes began in export-oriented Guangdong province in the southeast but have begun spreading to other provinces as well. Many of the labor demands go well beyond the minimum wage, which has climbed in 2010 in many cities and now tends to be in the range of 900 to 1,000 renminbi a month ($132 to $146) in relatively affluent coastal cities. The workers want sharply higher incomes because the cost of living in China is rising, while their expectations are rising even faster. Inflation in consumer goods is running at 3 percent a year in the spring of 2010, but housing prices have been rising several times faster, leaving home ownership far out of reach for industrial workers. At the same time, access to the Internet and advertising has fueled surging expectations among young Chinese, who want more than the basic shelter and food that earlier generations of young Chinese accepted after growing up with privation in rural areas. In organizing work stoppages, the strikers have wielded their knowledge of text-messaging and other Web-based strategies. Some strike leaders say they spend much of their time perusing the Inter net for material on China's labor laws. The central government in Beijing has been trying in recent years to ease a widening income gap that the Communist Party worries could result in social unrest. Beijing passed a new labor law in 2008, has promised stricter enforcement of work regulations, and has pressed local governments to raise the wages of migrants and offer better protections to these workers. But local governments, which depend on tax revenue from factories and sometimes hold ownership stakes in them, are not always inclined to support workers' demands. Troubles at Foxconn and Honda Since 2009, periodic strikes in southern China — some supposedly involving global companies — have been resolved quietly or not reported in the media. But a spate of suicides at Foxconn Technology and strikes at Honda are noteworthy for having generated considerable public attention. The rash of suicides, more than a dozen in 201 0, has intensified scrutiny of the working and living conditions at Foxconn, the world's biggest contract electronics supplier. In response, Foxconn has raised salaries steeply twice in June, announcing that it planned to double by October the salaries of many of its 800,000 workers in China to 2,000 renminbi, or nearly $300, a month. The announcement of a big raise by one of the country's biggest exporters seems likely to put pressure on other companies to follow suit, analysts say. Rather than take their own lives, many more Foxconn workers — tens of thousands more — have simply quit after a few months. They complain about military-style drills, verbal abuse by superiors and "self-criticisms" they are forced to read aloud, as well as occasionally being pressured to work as many 13 consecutive days to complete a big customer order — even when it means sleeping on the factory floor. Although the legal limit in China is 36 hours of overtime a month, s everal workers have said they regularly exceeded that by wide margins. A wave of strikes at Honda plants is playing out in surprising and significant ways. To resolve the strike at its transmission plant, Honda offered workers raises of 24 to 32 percent. That strike had forced Honda to shut down its four assembly plants in China. Striking Honda workers at one plant have marched, demanding the right to form an independent labor union. But the strikers are also facing tough tactics on the part of management. A strike at a <a title="More information about Honda Motor Co Ltd" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/honda-motor-co-ltd/in…">Honda</a> auto parts factory in southeastern <a title="More news and information about China." href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/ch…">China</a> collapsed on June 13, as the automaker's hiring of hundreds of replacemen t workers on the previous day prompted most of the strikers to return to work. The factory had raised wages and benefits, although the increase fell far short of what the strikers had demanded. It was unclear how many longtime workers had lost their jobs to replacement workers. The factory was severely understaffed before the strike because it had not raised wages, workers said. Beijing's Response But the breaking of the Honda strike may not become widely known in China. After allowing nationwide television and newspaper reporting of the early days of the transmission plant strike, Beijing authorities have imposed severe restrictions, without explanation, on the ability of the domestic media to report on labor unrest. The government has made no comment on the recent signs of labor unrest in the country. But its official news agency reported on June 15 that Prime Minister <a title="More articles about Wen Jiabao." href="http://top ics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/wen_jiabao/index.html?in…">Wen Jiabao</a> had called for local governments to improve the living conditions of migrant workers in urban areas. In early June, Beijing's municipal government said it would raise its minimum wage by 20 percent. Ma Jun, a Hong Kong economist at <a title="More information about Deutsche Bank AG" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/deutsche_bank_ag/inde…">Deutsche Bank</a>, said that more cities and provinces would soon raise their minimum wages 10 to 20 percent. The salaries of Chinese factory workers are still low compared to those in the United States and Europe: the hourly wage in southern China is only about 75 cents an hour. But economists say wage increases in the country will eventually ripple through the global economy, driving up the prices of goods as diverse as T-shirts, sneakers, computer servers and smartphones. Analysts say that Beijing is supporting wage increases as a way to stimulate domestic consumption and make the country less dependent on low-priced exports. The government hopes the move will force some export-oriented companies to invest in more innovative or higher-value goods like the smartphones. Economists say many of the same forces that were at work in 2007 and 2008, when China's economy was overheating, have returned and even intensified in 2010. They say a necessary restructuring is under way, one that should allow the nation's huge "floating population" of migrant workers to better share in the benefits of growth and stimulate domestic consumption. Improved working conditions come at a price, though. China, long the world's shop floor, is seeing work go to Bangladesh and other countries where the manufacture of cheap goods does not necessarily require literate workers and can tolerate unreliable transportation systems and electrical grids. T he flow of jobs to poorer countries started even before recent labor unrest in China led to big pay raises for many factory workers there — and before changes in Beijing's currency policy that could also raise the costs of Chinese exports. Economists expect the migration of China's low-paying jobs to accelerate. Migrant Workers' Tech Savvy One factor in the expanding consciousness of migrant laborers is an astounding rise in education, with an additional three million students graduating high school between 2004 and 2008. The result is that a growing number young people are ambitious, optimistic and more aware of their rights, said Lin Yanling, a labor specialist at the China Institute of Industrial Relations. Then there is their fluency with technology — cellphones, e-mail and Internet chat — that connects them to peers in other factories. "When they bump against unfair treatment, they are less afraid to challenge authority," she said. The migrant workers, the backbone of the country's industrial sector, are behind the strikes across China, and a 2008 labor law has accelerated an upsurge in workers' awareness of their rights. Hours into a strike at the Honda Lock auto parts factory on June 9, some of the 1,700 strikers started posting detailed accounts of the walkout online, spreading word not only among themselves but also to restive and striking workers elsewhere in China. The disgruntled workers took their cues from earlier groups of Web-literate strikers at other Honda factories, who in mid-May set up Internet forums and made online bulletin board postings about their own battle with the Japanese automaker over wages and working conditions. But they have also tapped into a broader communications web enabling the working class throughout China to share grievances and strategies. A looming question now, in fact, is whether and when the government might seek to quash the worker uprisings if they become too big a threat to the established social order. Already, the government has cracked down on strike-related Web sites and deleted many of the blog posts about the strikes. <a id="more" title="Hide" href="javascript:toggleLayer('more'); javascript:toggleLayer2('moretxt');">Hide</a> </div> http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/ch… ---------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THIS E-MAIL This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com's E-mail This Article service. For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help(a)nytimes.com. NYTimes.com 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018 Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company

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NYTimes.com: How Immigrants Create More Jobs
by ciudadviejo＠yahoo.com 31 Oct '10

31 Oct '10

This page was sent to you by: ciudadviejo(a)yahoo.com. BUSINESS DAY | October 31, 2010 Economic View: How Immigrants Create More Jobs By TYLER COWEN Evidence is growing that immigration encourages more business activity. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/business/economy/31view.html?emc=eta1 ---------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THIS E-MAIL This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com's E-mail This Article service. For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help(a)nytimes.com. NYTimes.com 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018 Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company

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NYTimes.com: McDonald's Workers Are Told Whom to Vote for
by ciudadviejo＠yahoo.com 31 Oct '10

31 Oct '10

This page was sent to you by: ciudadviejo(a)yahoo.com. U.S. | October 30, 2010 McDonald's Workers Are Told Whom to Vote for By SABRINA TAVERNISE Employees at a restaurant in Canton, Ohio, got a political pamphlet with their paychecks urging them to vote for the Republican ticket. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/us/politics/30ohio.html?emc=eta1 ---------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THIS E-MAIL This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com's E-mail This Article service. For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help(a)nytimes.com. NYTimes.com 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018 Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company

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Papers from GWU/NLRB conference on 75th ann of NLRB
by Eugene McElroy 29 Oct '10

29 Oct '10

On October 28 and 29, the National Labor Relations Board and the George Washington University Law School sponsored a conference examining the contributions the NLRA has made to the nation’s economic and social life, while asking the questions: Can this 1935 law, which first established the rights of American workers to join a union, adapt to a dramatically changed global environment? Is there a better model? link to conference: http://www.law.gwu.edu/News/2010-2011Events/NLRB/Pages/NLRB75.aspx link to conference papers (full text) http://www.law.gwu.edu/News/2010-2011Events/NLRB/Pages/Papers.aspx -- Eugene McElroy Library Associate School of Management and Labor Relations SMLR Library Rutgers University 50 Labor Center Way New Brunswick, NJ 08901 (732) 932-9513

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NYTimes.com: Economix: Labor Law Is Broken, Economist Says
by ciudadviejo＠yahoo.com 29 Oct '10

29 Oct '10

This page was sent to you by: ciudadviejo(a)yahoo.com. BUSINESS | October 28, 2010 Economix: Labor Law Is Broken, Economist Says By STEVEN GREENHOUSE In a new paper pegged to the 75th anniversary of the National Labor Relations Act, Richard B. Freeman declared that the law "has become an anachronism irrelevant for most workers and firms." http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/labor-law-is-broken-economist-… ---------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THIS E-MAIL This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com's E-mail This Article service. For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help(a)nytimes.com. NYTimes.com 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018 Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company

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NYTimes.com: Rethinking Early Retirement in Europe
by ciudadviejo＠yahoo.com 29 Oct '10

29 Oct '10

This page was sent to you by: ciudadviejo(a)yahoo.com. BUSINESS DAY | October 30, 2010 Off the Charts: Rethinking Early Retirement in Europe By FLOYD NORRIS Countries like France are questioning the generous social benefits doled out to those who stop working early. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/business/30charts.html?emc=eta1 ---------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THIS E-MAIL This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com's E-mail This Article service. For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help(a)nytimes.com. NYTimes.com 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018 Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company

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NYTimes.com: Program by New Jersey Union Grooms Candidates
by ciudadviejo＠yahoo.com 29 Oct '10

29 Oct '10

This page was sent to you by: ciudadviejo(a)yahoo.com. N.Y. / REGION | October 30, 2010 Program by New Jersey Union Grooms Candidates By RICHARD P'EREZ-PE~NA Fifty-three candidates in New Jersey's coming elections are graduates of a program to recruit, train and support candidates who are friendly to unions. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/nyregion/30labor.html?emc=eta1 ---------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THIS E-MAIL This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com's E-mail This Article service. For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help(a)nytimes.com. NYTimes.com 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018 Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company

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ImmigrationWorksUSA report on migration laws
by Eugene McElroy 29 Oct '10

29 Oct '10

Pls see the attachment for a report from the group ImmigrationWorksUSA reviewing proposed immigration laws in various states. -- Eugene McElroy Library Associate School of Management and Labor Relations SMLR Library Rutgers University 50 Labor Center Way New Brunswick, NJ 08901 (732) 932-9513

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Yahoo! News Story - Report: 25 states considering Arizona-style immigration laws | The Upshot Yahoo! News
by Eugene Mc Elroy 29 Oct '10

29 Oct '10

Eugene Mc Elroy (ciudadviejo(a)yahoo.com) has sent you a news article. (Email address has not been verified.) ------------------------------------------------------------ Personal message: article includes link to the PDF of the report mentioned. Report: 25 states considering Arizona-style immigration laws | The Upshot Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101028/us_yblog_upshot/report-25-sta… ============================================================ Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/

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BLS: CHARTING INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS OF HOURLY COMPENSATION COSTS IN MANUFACTURING, 2008 [15 October 2010]
by Eugene McElroy 28 Oct '10

28 Oct '10

*Charting International Comparisons of Hourly Compensation Costs in Manufacturing, 2008* [15 October 2010] http://www.bls.gov/fls/intl_hourly_comp_charts.htm On This Page: · Index of hourly compensation costs for all employees in manufacturing, 2008<http://www.bls.gov/fls/intl_hourly_comp_charts.htm#hc_2008> · Wages and benefits for all employees in manufacturing, 2008<http://www.bls.gov/fls/intl_hourly_comp_charts.htm#wages_benefits_2008> · Percent change in hourly compensation costs (measured in national currencies and U.S. dollars) and exchange rates for all employees in manufacturing, 2007-2008<http://www.bls.gov/fls/intl_hourly_comp_charts.htm#pchange_hc_er> · Annual percent change in hourly compensation costs for all employees in manufacturing, national currency vs. U.S. dollars, 2007-2008<http://www.bls.gov/fls/intl_hourly_comp_charts.htm#pchange_nc_usd> · The Americas: Annual percent change in hourly compensation costs for all employees in manufacturing, 2007-2008 and 2000-2008 (measured in U.S. dollars)<http://www.bls.gov/fls/intl_hourly_comp_charts.htm#hc_americas> · Europe: Annual percent change in hourly compensation costs for all employees in manufacturing, 2007-2008 and 2000-2008 (measured in U.S. dollars)<http://www.bls.gov/fls/intl_hourly_comp_charts.htm#hc_europe> · Asia and Oceania: Annual percent change in hourly compensation costs for all employees in manufacturing, 2007-2008 and 2000-2008 (measured in U.S. dollars)<http://www.bls.gov/fls/intl_hourly_comp_charts.htm#hc_asia> **************************************** Stuart Basefsky Director, IWS News Bureau Institute for Workplace Studies Cornell/ILR School 16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor New York, NY 10016 Telephone: (607) 255-2703 Fax: (607) 255-9641 E-mail: smb6(a)cornell.edu ************************************* -- Eugene McElroy Library Associate School of Management and Labor Relations SMLR Library Rutgers University 50 Labor Center Way New Brunswick, NJ 08901 (732) 932-9513

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