EDITORIAL: China factory strikes

In China, extolled as the "world's factory," workers are raising their voices to demand better treatment. There has even been an outbreak of strikes, a practice outlawed under the Chinese Constitution.

Within the advance of economic globalization, the cheap labor available in China and other newly emerging nations has created pressure for lower wages in developed nations as well.

Under the guidance of the Communist Party and labor unions, China's obedient work force is a sterling asset supporting this process in the eyes of companies.

Thus, moves by such traditionally submissive workers to stand up for better conditions may be a headache for corporate managers. It makes perfect sense, though, for workers who have fueled the rise of China as a global power to demand wages commensurate with their contributions.

Higher income for the Chinese through wage hikes would also bolster consumption. With an increase in domestic demand, growth for China as the "world's market" would be guaranteed. Such an evolution is important not only for China's sound growth as an economic society, but also to ensure balanced development of the world economy.

In mid-May, workers demanding wage hikes went on strike at a Guangdong province auto parts factory wholly owned by Honda Motor Co. That slowed the supply of transmissions and other components, soon bringing Honda assembly lines in China to a standstill.

The situation is even more severe at plants of Foxconn Technology, a subsidiary of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., one of the world's premier producers of electronic equipment, also in Guangdong.

This year alone, 13 of its workers have attempted suicide. Ten succeeded. They were reportedly driven to the brink by day after day of overtime work. The grim outcome has earned a wave of harsh censure from both within China and abroad.

In each of these cases, the disputes have been brought under control with hefty wage hikes. Inspired by the example of the strikes at Honda and other companies, there are signs that the quest for higher pay will expand nationwide. Among foreign companies operating in China, surprise at the unexpected strikes has prompted some to consider shifting their operations to the interior provinces or even to other countries to avoid higher labor costs.

Beijing has sustained its economic juggernaut by aggressively luring foreign capital and maximizing the benefits of cheap labor to utilize the export-processing-development model.

The fruits of this success, however, have been largely divvied up among managers and others higher up on the ladder. Rank-and-file workers have gotten the cold shoulder.

In China's coastal regions, which attract high concentrations of migrant workers from rural areas, monthly wages average around 20,000 yen ($220). At that level, it is tough for workers to send money back to their families without logging overtime for days on end.

At many factories, 10 or so workers bunk together in single rooms, leaving them virtually no privacy. The majority of companies have few medical or welfare facilities.

Apparently aware of this situation, Chinese authorities have largely refrained from intervening in the recent spate of labor struggles. What's more, to correct the disparities, the central leadership has announced a policy to shift the nation's economic structure away from its current export- and investment-driven mode toward a consumption-led pattern, pledging to increase worker income.

Under that vision, companies would also strive to emerge from their dependence on cheap labor, in favor of seeking more sophisticated industrial endeavors and new business opportunities.

In this way, moves are afoot at the factory level to rectify the practice of raising profits on the backs of workers forced to toil at low wages. Global companies should take seriously the grievances finally being lodged by these workers.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 16