Since China?s laws forbid public demonstrations, 12,000 women who work at a Uniden plant in Shenzhen, China secretly drew up a list of demands, incuding shorter work hours and enforcement of minimum wage laws, and then walked off the job. They scoffed at the possibility of losing their jobs citing the shortage of workers in the manufacturing sector. Worker protests in China have become more common as younger more educated migrant workers have entered the workforce. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has been pressuring Wal-Mart to allow all its workers to join unions.
See "Workers Demand Union at Wal-Mart Supplier in China", Howard W. French, The New York Times, December 15, 2004