Factory employees in China have been empowered and emboldened in recent months in the wake of a new contract law that requires businesses to include pension and insurance programs in employee agreements, as well as overtime pay. As a result, employees have become more outspoken about demanding improvements to working conditions and wages, with many simply walking away from jobs with unsafe or unfair conditions, a measure that would have been unheard of as recently as last year. Critics of the new law point to the spiraling cost of labor and production, and predict a large number of firms will begin to move their operations to cheaper climates.
See "Law dents China's role as world's factory floor", Ariana Eunjung Cha, The Washington Post, April 20, 2008