China’s workers get some respect again from top leaders

The mainland has been on the capitalist track for decades, but its working class has been given its due again by a top leadership faced with unprecedented challenges in social stability and economic development.

To create a “responsible and devoted” team of manufacturing workers, the mainland should accelerate reforms to smooth their career paths and protect their rights and interests, President Xi Jinping told the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms on Monday.

The meeting, attended by top leaders and related ministry heads, called the working class the leading strata of the nation and passed a reform proposal for manufacturing workers, Xinhua reported.

Although the working class holds a high position in the Communist Party’s charter for its role in helping it win power, it has been weakened politically and economically amid rapid development over the past few decades, analysts say.

The meeting comes as private capital is leaving the country, companies are struggling, and people are losing jobs amid slower economic growth and a possible trade war with the United States.

“Gestures and efforts to soothe workers mean a lot to social stability, which is a big matter for the party before the 19th party congress, a top-level power reshuffle,” said Zhang Lifan, a historian and political commentator.