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Independent unions are illegal in China, and although state
workers can appeal to the official state-run trade union, they often
receive little help.
"The trade unions are not as assertive as people would like
them to be – in the 1980s they were a lot more important," Unger
explains. '
As a result, workers - especially state workers, who tend to be
much more aware of rights - are increasingly taking their
complaints to the courts. Their cases usually revolve around pay,
unfair dismissal, or injury.
China's workers are entitled to a maximum 44-hour working
week with at least one day off. However, "China's labor laws are
quite simple," says Ye Yun hua of the Legal Assistance Center of
the Legal Research Institute at Qinghua University in Beijing.
"They protect workers from overtime, but they do not stipulate
what should be done in case of injury or overwork."
"Labor lawyers want to see better laws so these poor workers
and their families can be compensated," says Apo Leong,
executive director of Asia Monitor Resource Centre, a Hong Kong-
based NGO helping to defend workers.
WANG first appealed the loss of his job to the Ministry of
Railways in Beijing, but soon found himself in bigger trouble.
"I told them our bosses are breaking labor laws to put more
money into their own pockets," he says. "They said they would
help, but when I got home the police came for me."
For 23 days, Wang says, the police kept him in jail and beat
him, trying to extract a confession until the official "Worker's Daily"
ran a story on his plight.
Wang then took his case to the Beijing Intermediate Court.
Because he couldn't afford lawyers, he appealed to a legal-aid
service run by students at Qinghua University. The Beijing
Intermediate Court ruled against Wang this summer.

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