Guangdong wage rules upset both unions and businesses

The Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress has passed new collectvie bargaining rules that require employers to hold talks with workers over wages, benefits and working hours, but also remove the right to strike seen in a previous draft of the rules, South China Morning Post reported. The final version has upset both sides, with chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries Stanley Lau Chin-ho claming the rules posed “huge pressures for employers”. Meanwhile industrial relations professor Pun Ngai said that by “eliminating the right to strike, the bill takes away workers’ most powerful and last bargaining chip.”