In recent press interviews [2] about the global economic crisis and its impact on social stability in China, I’ve said that the majority of migrant workers who suffered pay cuts or even lost their jobs were not angry at the boss but rather accepted that their loss was the result of global economic forces beyond their control.

I added that this could all change however if bosses started to use the economic crisis as a pretext to lay-off workers without due compensation or cheat them out of their wages. Now, according to one blogger, Pang Zhujun, this appears to be happening.

In a recent blog entitled Why is the boss so heartless? [3](为什么老板没有人性?), Pang listed a series of complaints he had received from factory workers, mainly young women, harassed, pressured and cajoled into resigning by their bosses. In all cases, the bosses sought to get workers to resign, so that they would not have to pay the compensation required under the Labour Contract Law if they fired them.

In one raw materials processing plant, the boss suddenly reduced wages from 1,100 yuan to 720 yuan, forcing many workers to leave. Those who did not leave were followed constantly by management with resignation documents in hand, asking them for their signatures. Some of the workers received more than ten copies of the resignation document in one day. One worker phoned in to say that he was nearly driven mad by the pressure.

In an electronics factory, management introduced harsh new regulations, violations of which would be punished by point deductions and fines. When leaving for the day, workers had to turn off tens of switches; missing one meant a two-point deduction. In the beginning, a one-point deduction was a five yuan fine (it then increased to ten yuan) and when eight points were deducted, the worker was removed from payroll. Most workers tried very hard to comply with rules so management tampered with the switches after work and the workers lost their work points. Many resigned as a result.

Another printing factory forced all its pregnant employees to resign. Ms. Huang, for example, was pressured to resign as soon as she became pregnant. Management even threatened to transfer her to a position where working conditions could harm her baby.

Finally, one woman at sports shoe manufacturing was driven to a nervous breakdown by management who forced her to either resign or relocate to another district away from her family. After her breakdown, the woman was thrown out of the factory compound and management refused to notify her family. When her husband finally found her she was in a confused state and could not recognise him.