More than 900 workers spent two years on a construction project on the Liaoning University of Science and Engineering campus between 2014-15. When their boss failed to pay, workers went to multiple government departments seeking help.

In 2016 workers held street demonstrations and occupied a building at their work site demanding payment. The local labour inspectorate then gave workers 20% of the sum they were owed, and promised to help them get the rest within a year.

Last month on 24 January, workers demonstrated at front of the labour inspectorate offices who had failed to obtain the final 80%. One of their colleagues climbed to the top of the building and threatened to jump.

Workers at Gestamp auto parts factory in Kunshan went on strike with the holiday fast approaching.

Flyers were posted in the factory with a list of grievances, protesting lower New Year bonuses than other Gestamp factories throughout China in Chongqing, Dongguan and Shenyang. Workers complained of worsening conditions and an increasingly careless and hostile management in recent years. They opposed the elimination of family leave days, as well as new limits on overtime pay.

Kunshan Gestamp workers also went on strike late last year when upper management went on an expensive tour of Japan and announced an end to workers’ high-temperature subsidies upon their return.