One of the most disconcerting experiences of my early trips to China was reading reports of the debate around proposed changes to labour legislation in 2007. The Chinese government was trying to update laws that could only be described as Dickensian. The official labour union in China was an extension of the Communist Party. It did little to protect workers from exploitation that included, by one account, embezzlement of wages and social insurance payments, wages below the legal minimum, no overtime pay, lack of work safety and denial of responsibility for accidents. China’s grim employment conditions had been well aired in media across the globe, particularly in countries that had suffered employment losses and felt China’s abusive practices gave it a competitive advantage.But by around 2004, fears of mounting social agitation moved the Chinese government to look at dragging their law into the 21st century. Imagine my shock when I discovered that two of the most powerful voices arg...

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