That's the word from some of the boys and girls who run run mutli-national businesses in China, according to the NYT. You have to appreciate the honesty. Did the reporters realize what they were writing? Anyhow, the news is certainly interesting, China is putting in a place a new labor code that would substantially increase workers' rights. The real question of course is the extent to which it will be enforced. One promising sign is the fact that the state-run media just exposed a set of coal mines and brick kilns that were using slave labor. This presumably indicates an intention on the part of the central government to crack down on the worst abuses. We shall see.
--Dean Baker
