Pressure’s on for foreign firms in China

The Chinese Communist Party has called on employers to raise salaries and improve workers’ training after foreign firms such as Toyota, Honda and Hyundai were hit by strikes. A speech by premier Wen Jiabao and an editorial by state newspaper The People’s Daily said that the era of low-cost labour in China was coming to an end and that firms should improve skills, boost spending power and provide fair conditions for migrant workers.