Listen to the following statements about the strike at Honda's transmission plant in Guangdong province, one that has brought the Japanese company's car production throughout China to a juddering halt. The first goes like this: “The strike reflects the low wages the bosses are paying the workers . . . The system does not provide a legal base for collective bargaining.” The second, like this: “In the three decades of opening-up, ordinary workers are among those who have received the smallest share of economic prosperity. The temporary stoppage of production lines in the four Honda factories . . . highlights the necessity of organised labour protection in Chinese factories.”
The first speaker is Han Dongfang, a former railway electrician who, in 1989, tried to unite workers and students during the Tiananmen Square protests. He was jailed for his troubles, contracted tuberculosis in prison and had a lung surgically removed. Now living in exile in Hong Kong, he works as a trade union activist, monitoring workers' rights in mainland China.
The provenance of the second – almost identical – statement is more surprising. It is an editorial in the Global Times, a tabloid founded by the People's Daily. Chinese newspapers are not in the habit of writing about strikes, let alone endorsing them. Anything that smacks of an alternative pole of power or tarnishes China's image as a hassle-free investment destination has generally been taboo. In any case, strikes are rare since independent labour unions are banned and “official trade unions” rarely, if ever, organise industrial action.