New labor activists emerge from China’s migrant workers

In this March 27, 2015 photo, Chinese labor leader Ji Jiansheng stands in a parking lot in Shenzhen in southern China's Guangdong Province. Ji was fired from his job at a golf equipment plant in 2014, several months after he and other workers' representatives led a successful two-day strike, and since then he has lived off of odd jobs while keeping his activism secret from his family. (AP Photo/Didi Tang) In this March 27, 2015 photo, Chinese labor leader Ji Jiansheng stands in a parking lot in Shenzhen in southern China's Guangdong Province. Ji was fired from his job at a golf equipment plant in 2014, several months after he and other workers' representatives led a successful two-day strike, and since then he has lived off of odd jobs while keeping his activism secret from his family. (AP Photo/Didi Tang)

By Associated Press April 6, 2015 3 min read

SHENZHEN, China (AP) – A new crop of labor leaders is emerging in China as migrant factory workers increasingly demand their rights and a fair share of the country’s now-slowing economic boom.

Disillusioned with China’s officially sanctioned labor union, workers are electing their own representatives and launching strikes and protests at a rate that has doubled each of the past several years to 1,300 in 2014. Here are some of these new leaders:

YOUNG AND UNFAZED:

At 27, Qi Jianguang is one of the youngest of these worker representatives.

After working eight years at a golfing equipment factory in southern Shenzhen, he and other workers discovered that management had failed to make social security contributions, a common lapse long, often ignored by authorities.