Labour News

• Industrial accident

15 miners confirmed dead after coal mine explosion in central China

Fifteen miners have been confirmed dead after a gas blowout accident occurred at a coal mine in Hunan Province, central China. The coal mine accident occurred around 5pm on 25 February at the Dayuan Coal Mine in Longhui County of Shaoyang City when 24 miners were working underground in the shaft. As of 27 February, 15 miners have been confirmed dead and only six miners managed to escape while three other miners were still missing, according to Xinhua News Agency. [Read more]

• Strike

Over 1,000 textile workers in Shandong strike against low pay

More than 1,000 workers at the cloth-weaving section of the Heze Cotton Textile Factory, formerly a state-owned enterprise, in Shandong have been staging a strike against low pay since 10 February. [Read more]

• Migrant workers

Labour shortage arises in province exporting most migrant workers

Hunan, which neighbours Guangdong to the north, is the latest province to report a severe shortage of labour, following reports from the coastal cities in Guangdong of serious labour shortages in early 2005, according to a government report. [Read more]

• Employment problems

Unemployed estimated to rise by one million in 2006

China's booming economy will provide millions of new jobs in 2006, but growth will be insufficient to absorb all new entrants and laid-off workers, yielding a gap of 14 million unemployed, one million more than in 2005, according to official estimates presented at a recent conference in Beijing. [Read more]

• Social security

Over 80 percent of Chinese workers have no basic pension insurance

According to a report of the Economic Information Daily on 17 February quoting official statistics, over 80 percent of workers in China have no basic pension insurance. More than 85 percent of people living in cities and towns do not have basic medical insurance, the paper added. The poor and the needy in urban areas have not received any systematic social assistance. [Read more]

 

Chinese Workers' Voices: Taiwan shoemaker disappears leaving hundreds unpaid
Han Dongfang's latest radio interview with Chinese workers.

• Read the English transcript: [Click here].
• Listen to the original audio file (in Putonghua): [Click here]

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