Chinese workers demand a proper break |
| As China approaches a week-long holiday, workers are voicing their frustrations on social media about being required to work weekends before and after the break. The backlash highlights ongoing issues of low pay and inadequate labour protections. Suzy Li, a tourism worker, described the practice of requiring workers to maintain output as "inhumane" and she called for consumer boycotts against companies that enforce such demands. Meanwhile, a Supreme People's Court report indicates that in the first nine months of 2025 (the latest statistics available), courts in China accepted 648,000 labour disputes against employers, a 37.5% increase year-on-year. “This is a highly significant shift,” that reflects “deep-seated changes in the Chinese economy,” observed Mingwei Liu, director at the Centre for Global Work and Employment at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “For workers, the previously implicit effort-reward contract is breaking down. Today, promotions, wage growth, and employment are all much more uncertain, yet excessive overtime persists. The sacrifices demanded by companies have not decreased, but the rewards they are able to offer are shrinking.” |
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