Michael Perelman reports on some labour struggles in China.
In July, Chinese workers murdered beat an executive to death in protesting an immanent privatization of their steel mill.
Says Perelman: "The state responded by halting the sale."
While not condoning violence, the role of the state is interesting here. China is not always known for respecting the interests of those who stand in the way of what we in the United States call economic progress. I would assume that a violent military response would occur here (unless the union would reorganize as a bank). Instead, the Chinese negotiated with the workers.I assume that some sort of punishments will be meted out, but even so, I am amazed at what happened.