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From CLB:

More than 20 teachers at a Shenzhen kindergarten went out on strike on 24 March to demand payment of their previous month’s wages. The teachers were all on the Shenzhen minimum wage of just 1,100 yuan a month. The monthly tuition fees paid by parents however were 4,010 yuan, the Shenzhen Commercial Daily (深圳商报) reported.

The work stoppage brought an immediate response from the local government in Shenzhen’s Bao’an district, which dispatched officials from the education, labour and judicial bureaus as well as the local police station. At 11.am, teachers’ representatives held talks with the owner of the privately-run Liutang Kindergarten, and by the afternoon the wage arrears had been paid and all classes resumed.

It is unclear if the teachers managed to negotiate a pay rise as well as secure their back pay. However Shenzhen will increase its minimum wage by 20 percent to 1,320 yuan a month on 1 April, so the kindergarten will have to increase the teachers’ pay just to comply with the law.

Many of the parents of children at the Liutang Kindergarten, interviewed by the newspaper, complained that the teachers’ wages were too low, which led to high staff turnover and adversely affected the quality of their children’s care and education.

As CLB reported earlier this month, although wages for factory workers in the Pearl River Delta are increasing, pay for many white collar and service sector employees has remained relatively static. And with the rapid increase in the cost of living in Shenzhen, even a monthly wage of 1,500 yuan is barely enough to get by, let alone save anything.