One Coal Co., 100,000 Layoffs

A single coal company, the largest in northeastern China, has announced plans to lay off 100,000 workers. Most of the layoffs have been delayed for now, due only to fear of worker unrest, at least according to one miner who was interviewed as part of a New York Times story. The situation in the coal industry is part of larger picture of increasing worker discontent and general economic stress across an important Chinese province and to a lesser extent nationwide, and these developments are said to threaten an unwritten compact between Chinese workers and the Communist Part that for years has stifled worker unrest. By one measure, the number of strikes and protests in China doubled in 2015 as compared to 2014.