Nieuwe stakingen in China

In terms of number of participants within a single company, the Yue Yuen strike was the biggest strike of migrant workers in China since the beginning of the boom in the 1990s. Usually, strikes are carried out by tens, hundreds, or a few thousand workers. This time up to 50,000 were involved. The strike spread to one other province, which is a promising sign, but no further. It lasted approximately two weeks, a lot longer than the usual few hours or days (…) Jay Chen underlines that “individual resistance and collective protests were in many cases not spontaneous, intuitive actions but carefully planned and organized. The protest strategies were more and more optimized, too”. The strike cases in the book Hao Ren, et al. published also show the preparation, solidarity, circulation, and learning processes during the struggles. They give evidence of the daily contradictions workers face on the assembly lines, in the dormitories and canteens and illustrate how workers’ cooperation is not only a basis for production but also for rebellious organizing. The importance of strikes and strike waves lies in the fact that they can give this rebellious organizing a push. Striking workers have the chance to recognize that their problems are the problems of many other workers as well. The experience of struggle can take them out of their isolation, competition, and social misery and offer them ways to take collective action. This process could be seen in China in the past few years. Strike experiences circulate, strike tactics are evaluated, collective strategies are tested, activists emerge and send out signals for solidarity actions. The realization that work stoppages can force concessions and enable workers to escape the rat race for hours or days spreads (…) Wildcat strikes, more than anything, can be signs of the self-activity of a working class and help the participants to overcome divisions, get rid of the paternalization through union hierarchies and establish themselves as a movement beyond rituals of social partnership.

Nao in The new strikes in China (Libcom)