According to the Hans Böckler Foundation’s Institute of Economic and Social Research, employees in Germany lost over 2 million work days last year to strikes or lock outs, the highest amount of time lost to labor action since the mid-1990’s. In China, labor unrest continues to escalate as January continued to see a rise in strikes, particularly in the Guangdong province. As China struggles with economic issues similar to those faced by the rest of the world, Chinese unions mostly remain impotent and strikes are generally organized by employees themselves. 
