On the menu: Chinese industry salaries are catching up on their Greek and Portuguese counterparts, Finnish trade unions develop initiatives in response to the gig economy, Uber’s sexual harassment scandal spills over to Silicon Valley, Europe’s chemical industry social partners contribute to sustainable PVC, the textile sector’s European social partners formulate a CSR risk assessment tool for supply chains, workers at Caterpillar’s Belgian Gosselies facility accept a social plan as the region sets to the task of reconverting the site, and Volkswagen cuts management pay by 40%.
China’s industry salaries are catching up on their Greek and Portuguese counterparts. This is what the Euromonitor International study found, a synthesis of which was published in the Financial Times on 27 February. Industry salaries have tripled in eleven years to reach $3.60 per hour in 2016. This is higher than salaries paid in Argentina, Mexico (where hourly pay fell from $2.20 to $2.10 over the same period), and Brazil (where hourly pay fell from $2.90 to $2.70), and is closing in on pay levels in certain EU countries. At current levels Chinese workers’ pay is 70% of both Portuguese workers’ hourly pay (wages have dropped sharply from $6.30 to $4.50) and Greek workers’ pay where salaries have more than halved since 2009.
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