(CNN) -- On the morning of her suicide on July 17, Zhou Jianrong came into work earlier than usual. No one knew what went through her head in those quiet hours before other workers arrived, but as CCTV footage later revealed, she first took 20 minutes to walk around the empty factory before leaping off the fourth floor window. The 49-year old was found dead shortly before 6 a.m., marking the end of her 12 years at the GCL Footwear factory. Zhou had just been fired the previous night for participating in a strike that was part of a long-running labor dispute. She was one of more than 100 workers sacked for their involvement.
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Labor unions in China are ridiculed for their impotence and are referred to as "boss' unions"
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Bottom-up activism puts pressure on the government to make changes
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Nearly half of all protests between 2011-2013 were related to factory workers' rights
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China can no longer rely on cheap labor -- so what's next for "the world's factory"?
But with 260 million migrant workers in the country, this progress might take some time -- a progress that @placeholder will not see.