GE’s lawyers talk about their company’s experience with labour strife in China. David Hechler reports
China is widely viewed as a tightly-controlled society, which is why this spring’s labour strife headlines surprised so many people. A car maker was hit with a series of strikes and an electronics manufacturer was shaken by a string of employee suicides. Chinese Government officials, who usually clamp down on labour unrest and suppress news coverage, allowed employees to criticise the companies for weeks – and state-run media to report what they said.
