Last summer, China was in the middle of a labor shift. The third and final draft of the labor policy was under consideration, McDonald’s and Yum were suspected of paying college stagg below market rate, and a slave labor scandal had just passed.

It was a perfect storm of event that 12 months later can be seen as another one of China’s turning points. China’s only labor union got a huge boost, enforcement of labor violations increased (a boost to labor), and even labor lawyers were promoted to the front of the line as well at the time.

No doubt, it is still a time where things can be touch and go, but progress is coming in a number of steps.

Two of the most recent examples that show some of the forward progress can be found in the recent news that Wal-Mart has agreed to collective bargaining with the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU). It was a well covered event (Businessweek, Forbes, the Economist, China Daily, and others), and through these negottiations was an agreement to raise wages 8% this year and next,

However, for me, a more interesting story was in the financial times this week.  Chinese factory workers gain recognition for their grievances chronicles the labor movement that had traditionally be seen as outside the lines, but in the last year has made progress in their efforts to defend others abused at the workplace.

Stories we know well, the role of associations - much like the role of environmental NGOs and volunteering groups after 5.12 - have gained support at the central level from leaders who have come to understand that these needs have to be addressed and at the citizen level by those who are beginning to develop a sense of the costs associated with economic development.

from my perspective, I view both of the examples about as strong steps forward.  They are steps that should not be over celebrated, rather they should be seen as a foundation for the next steps, the steps that will lead down a path where NGOs, the community, and agencies all work as one to then take the next steps forward.

Maybe that is a bit utopian in thought, but in my experience in China.. that is the way that things have gone in other developing sectors of civil society in China, and it is perhaps the most stable/ sustainable way forward.  There are surely going to be flareups that occur short term, but ove rhte medium and long term we will see a real movement towards better labor conditions.