With the official trade unions being under the control of the ruling Communist Party, young migrant workers are in no position to ask for more money.
Young migrant workers in the southern Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen are sorely underpaid but in no position to ask for more money, stated the media on Monday citing a survey.
Factories in China's export powerhouse province of Guangdong, where Shenzhen is located, have been hit by a string of stoppages over the past few months by workers demanding a bigger slice of the country's economic wealth.
In Shenzhen, the average monthly wage for young migrant workers, at 1,838.6 yuan ($271.3), is less than half of what workers holding full-time, long-term jobs in the same city earn, the new survey said.
"Many companies pay in line with the city's lowest minimum standard, and migrant workers can only raise their income by doing excessive amounts of overtime," the All-China Federation of Trade Unions said. Such a salary "can only maintain the very lowest standards of living in Shenzhen", it added.
The survey, excerpts of which were carried in the Communist Party mouthpiece, People's Daily, made no reference to the bout of strikes, which was in line with the muted coverage of the unrest by Chinese media.
The latest strike has affected a plant supplying parts to Honda Motors China. But the publication of the study in an official newspaper shows that the rising demands of a new generation of workers migrating from Chinese villages, or born to migrants in the cities, are weighing on policy-makers.
A similar report last month warned that the migrant demands were a test for stability, something the Communist Party values above all else.
"They don't know much about protecting their rights and lack communication channels within companies," the survey said. "When their rights are infringed upon, in most cases they choose to change jobs, so there is a lot of movement of labour."
Young migrants thought they should be getting at least 2,679 yuan a month, but would need 4,200 yuan a month to be able to afford to have a family, the survey found.
Though they were better educated than the generation of migrants that came before them, they were still essentially doing the same manual jobs and few had risen to the ranks of management, it added.
Yet, only 1% would prefer to go back to the countryside. "Everything will get better, as long as we work hard and keep forging ahead," more than three-quarters of respondents said.
The newspaper did not say how many people took part. China's official trade unions come under the control of the ruling Communist Party, and rarely support strikes or confrontations with employers. Many private companies do not have unions, or if they do, they are controlled by management.
Some union officials have been pressing for more vocal representation of workers, including migrants.
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