Some even explained that the deal struck for China s entry into the WTO would unleash great hardship on the majority of Chinese. I was both impressed and moved by their words and their passion. Hopefully the US labor movement will realize that it can best protect the interests of US workers and workers everywhere by aiming its fire at US multinational corporations and their servants within the Clinton Administration and the Republican Party rather than arguing as if the Chinese government is the only violator of human and labor rights in the world, when of course it is not. Let me offer two recent accounts that make clear how devastating Chinese entry into the WTO will be for ordinary Chinese. At least a third of Shenyang s labor force is unemployed.
Thousands gather in public parks in hope of getting temporary work.
In a speech to party colleagues in Beijing two months ago, Mu issued an extraordinary warning that conditions in his city could be spinning out of control. Our ability to govern is being seriously affected by rising joblessness, he acknowledged. All the work units have collapsed. It s a dangerous situation. Experts say that out of an urban labor pool of about 350 million, at last 80 million Chinese are unemployed.