China strikes and protests up 20%

Strikes and protests in China during the first half of 2016 rose almost 20% compared to a year earlier as an early boom in construction-sector unrest gave way to sustained growth in collective action by workers in transportation, the Financial Times reports. In June, China saw 169 strikes nationwide, down about 5% year on year, according to figures provided by China Labour Bulletin’s strike map. But it saw a total of 1,456 strikes and protests as of end-June, up 19% from the first half of 2015, according to the Financial Times. The biggest boost in absolute terms has come from construction workers, who in January helped push total incidents to a record monthly high of 503.