Catherwood LibraryILR School

Some of China's labor activists who had been detained in 2018 and 2019 for collective bargaining efforts and protesting work conditions have been released to new lives - dependent on the condition that they no longer pursue their activist leanings. About 15 of the labor organizers and student protesters had been persuaded to give up their activism due to concerted efforts by family members and former teachers - a tactic used by the Chinese government to retrain those it considers subversive by using guilt and financial incentives. Some of them now have new identities and jobs - with some workers being paid more than they had previously been paid - and the fear that they will harm their family members by losing their jobs keeps the activists in order. Two of the workers given job placements were those that had participated in a unionizing workers at the Jasic Technology welding factory; the unionization effort has since been shut down.