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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
/ | |
Labor Day isn’t the holiday it once was for China’s workers | |
By Chris Lau and Hassan Tayir, CNN | |
Updated: | |
9:10 PM EDT, Tue April 30, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
Like hundreds of millions of workers in China, Hao Zeyu, an algorithm | |
engineer at an electric vehicle maker, is getting five days off this | |
week for the Labor Day holiday. But he’s in no mood to party. | |
In order to take the vacation, Hao is required to work an extra day on | |
each weekend immediately before and after the break. | |
To add insult to injury, two of the official vacation days fall on | |
Saturday and Sunday. That means just one of those five days counts as a | |
genuine holiday. | |
The practice of moving workdays to weekends to create a longer vacation | |
during major Chinese holidays is known as “tiaoxiu” or adjusted | |
rest. Introduced in 1999 to stimulate consumer spending following the | |
Asian financial crisis, it has been the subject of much online anger in | |
the weeks leading up to this year’s May 1 holiday. | |
“I really don’t like it,” Hao told CNN. “I think this policy | |
was meant to promote consumption at a certain stage of the country’s | |
development, but I very much do not support it anymore,” he added. | |
So, why has a decades-old policy caused so much upset in a country | |
whose Communist Party leadership pays to International Workers’ Day? | |
Workers say a post-Covid slump in the world’s second largest economy | |
means they are increasingly afraid of losing their jobs if they dare to | |
ask for extra leave on top of the officially sanctioned holidays — | |
which they had previously felt comfortable doing. | |
And they say they’re being asked to work harder than ever because | |
their employers are trying to do more with fewer resources as economic | |
misery — a , declining and — piles up. | |
Trending topic | |
In recent weeks, complaints about this year’s Labor Day leave | |
arrangements have exploded on Chinese social media. Many have slammed | |
the government for prioritizing business over something they | |
desperately need, which is an actual break. | |
People have been venting their frustration under the hashtags “you | |
should not pretend not to hear voices opposing the tiaoxiu policy” | |
and “tiaoxiu policy for May Day,” which have collectively drawn | |
more than 560 million views combined. | |
One user wrote the online discussion was not merely a policy debate, | |
it’s an embodiment of “physical and mental exhaustion caused by | |
crazy overtime work.” | |
“What we are longing for is an effective rest that is urgently needed | |
from overworking,” the person added. | |
Another person wrote on social media platform Weibo that they “want | |
more holidays not shifting things around in order to get those long | |
holidays.” | |
“Who will have the mood to spend money if they don’t have (real) | |
holidays?” the person wrote. | |
To make things worse, the “orchestrated” vacations often result in | |
a scramble for hard-to-get train tickets, inflated hotel deals and | |
chaos at popular tourist spots, Hao told CNN. | |
Labor Day isn’t the only holiday to get the adjusted rest policy. | |
The authorities also shuffle workdays around the Spring Festival, | |
celebrated in January or February, and National Day, which takes place | |
on October 1, to create seven-day breaks known as “Golden Weeks.” | |
Working harder | |
Christian Yao, a senior lecturer at the University of Wellington, said | |
China’s economy is “in the middle of very bumpy years” as it | |
strives to transform itself from a manufacturing powerhouse into a | |
knowledge-based economy. | |
He said workers are beginning to question where the country is heading. | |
The slowing economy has, in turn, put pressure on companies to improve | |
their productivity while cutting costs. | |
“Workers are forced to work harder, afraid of losing jobs and at the | |
same time afraid of whether finding another job is going to offer them | |
better pay,” he said. | |
Even though some workers are used to working long hours under China’s | |
“996” work culture — the practice of working from 9 am to 9 pm | |
six days a week that is common among the country’s tech companies, | |
startups and other private businesses — others are now refusing to | |
put up with the adjusted work policy, Yao said. | |
With the policy, China is able to designate more than 25 days as | |
official holidays. Without the maneuvering though, workers get 11 days, | |
which is still in line with many other countries. The United States, | |
for instance, offers 11 federal holidays while the United Kingdom has | |
eight days. | |
But the problem for Chinese workers is that their statutory paid time | |
off (PTO), or annual leave, is just five days a year, which is much | |
less than many other countries. | |
When times were good, Chinese companies were more generous in granting | |
those PTO days. But it’s a different story during an economic | |
slowdown. | |
Max Teng, a business analyst in the internet industry, told CNN that he | |
used to work for a foreign company. But the truth is it was no better, | |
he said. | |
“If you take a long leave, everyone will have some negative feedback | |
for you. So many people do not dare to take leave even if it’s | |
offered,” he said. | |
Exceptions to the rule | |
A minority of companies are doing things their own way. Yaer Tuerdi, | |
26, works in the marketing division of Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is | |
run by fast food giant Yum China (). | |
Yum China doesn’t require workers to come in during the two | |
designated “special working days.” | |
“I like it,” said Tuerdi. “You can arrange your break freely … | |
If you want to travel, you can take annual leave to make up for the | |
gap. If you don’t want to travel, you can still have two days of rest | |
on the weekend.” | |
A movement among independent businesses is pushing back on the | |
obsession of excessively long work hours. Among the more prominent | |
proponents is Pang Dong Lai, a supermarket chain known for its customer | |
service based in the central province of Henan. | |
In March, its founder and chairman Yu Donglai announced he was offering | |
10 days a year of “sadness leave” for employees who did not feel up | |
to working, state media People’s Daily reported. | |
“Everyone feels down inevitably every now and then and if they can | |
have this sadness leave, they may feel good again,” it quoted him as | |
saying. Managers, Yu added, cannot reject such leave applications. | |
He has been one of the rare advocates of work-life balance in a culture | |
that prizes “eating bitterness,” or enduring hardship to succeed, | |
and often speaks at business forums to preach his beliefs. | |
CNN has contacted the supermarket chain to ask about its Labor Day | |
plans. | |
As for Teng, he will have to work on May 11, a Saturday, as part of the | |
standard holiday arrangement. | |
“I feel very depressed because I have to work at least six days in a | |
row,” he said. | |
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