Labour Website of the Week

From Eric Lee, LabourStart, 7 February 2002

China has been for many years important to the international trade union movement in no small measure because of the size of its population. Theoretically speaking, China has had the largest working class in the world for many decades.

But in recent years, China has also become an economic powerhouse, with tens of millions of workers involved in export-oriented manufacturing. And as a result, unions everywhere have begun to sit up and take notice.

This is the website of the office set up in Hong Kong back in 1997 by a consortium of international trade union organizations. It was re-launched in December last year with a broadened mandate: the IHLO now aims to monitor trade union and workers' rights and political and social developments in mainland China -- not only in Hong Kong.

The site is brand new and shows lots of promise: an online monthly news bulletin, research briefings, and so on. Of particular interest to those of us new to the subject of China is a history of the Chinese labour movement over the last 53 years, since the Communist Party came to power.

And the site includes very up-to-date news about growing industrial unrest in China -- news which we hope to include here on LabourStart as well.

We recommend this site very highly.