China Labour Bulletin is quoted in the following article. Copyright remains with the original publisher.
Activists hail landmark debate on collective bargaining in manufacturing heartland of Guangdong
High-profile strikes at Honda and other factories have put workers in southern China on the verge of gaining new rights, campaigners believe.
Officials in Guangdong province – for years the country's manufacturing heartland – are debating proposals which activists say could be a landmark, allowing workers to democratically elect representatives to carry out collective bargaining.
"The pressure of low pay, long working hours and poor working conditions that gave rise to the wave of strikes across Guangdong have elicited a timely and positive response from the government," said Han Dongfang, executive director of the Hong Kong-based group China Labour Bulletin.
He said it showed an important change in the government's attitude towards workers' reasonable economic demands.
According to Chinese media, the revised draft law states that if more than a fifth of the workforce at a factory ask for wage negotiations with management, the trade union branch must organise the democratic election of representatives. If the company does not have a union, the nearest district union must arrange the vote. Union leaders in China are appointed officials and independent unions are not permitted.
Han said that although collective consultation already exists in theory, it was not effective. While officials did sometimes raise grievances with management, they almost always dropped the matter if the business failed to respond. The new rules would force unions to act and allow workers to pick the people speaking for them.
"These regulations have been substantially revised based on discussions with all interested parties in the wake of the problems manifest at Foxconn and Honda," said Ou Guangyuan, chairman of the standing committee of Guangdong's People's Congress.
A spate of suicides at electronics giant Foxconn, which makes iPhones and other Apple products, has raised widespread concern, with some linking it to conditions at the factory.
"This is a very encouraging development, but we need to wait and see [its outcome]," said Dr Gan Li, visiting associate professor of economics at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business.
He said Guangdong tended to be more progressive than other provinces in handling labour rights, partly because the sheer volume of migrant workers put them under more pressure.
Gan suggested that workers were also becoming more confident and that the internet had allowed them to read about companies such as Honda raising salaries in the wake of strikes.
"[Now] they think strikes make a difference, so I think more workers will ask for more," he said.
The authorities want to maintain economic growth and fear growing worker demands could put off foreign investors. They are also deeply wary of independent representatives.
At the same time, they are concerned that workers have real grievances that could lead to instability if they are not addressed. Recently, it was reported in China Daily that wages as a proportion of GDP fell every year between 1983 and 2005.
Dr Liu Kaiming of the Institute of Contemporary Observation said businesses were likely to oppose the proposals but that they would probably pass.
But he cautioned: "There are plenty of laws in China; the issue is how you implement them. Another problem is that workers are often unaware of these laws and don't know how to protect themselves."
Activists hail landmark debate on collective bargaining in manufacturing heartland of Guangdong
High-profile strikes at Honda and other factories have put workers in southern China on the verge of gaining new rights, campaigners believe.
Officials in Guangdong province – for years the country's manufacturing heartland – are debating proposals which activists say could be a landmark, allowing workers to democratically elect representatives to carry out collective bargaining.
"The pressure of low pay, long working hours and poor working conditions that gave rise to the wave of strikes across Guangdong have elicited a timely and positive response from the government," said Han Dongfang, executive director of the Hong Kong-based group China Labour Bulletin.
He said it showed an important change in the government's attitude towards workers' reasonable economic demands.
According to Chinese media, the revised draft law states that if more than a fifth of the workforce at a factory ask for wage negotiations with management, the trade union branch must organise the democratic election of representatives. If the company does not have a union, the nearest district union must arrange the vote. Union leaders in China are appointed officials and independent unions are not permitted.
Han said that although collective consultation already exists in theory, it was not effective. While officials did sometimes raise grievances with management, they almost always dropped the matter if the business failed to respond. The new rules would force unions to act and allow workers to pick the people speaking for them.
"These regulations have been substantially revised based on discussions with all interested parties in the wake of the problems manifest at Foxconn and Honda," said Ou Guangyuan, chairman of the standing committee of Guangdong's People's Congress.
A spate of suicides at electronics giant Foxconn, which makes iPhones and other Apple products, has raised widespread concern, with some linking it to conditions at the factory.
"This is a very encouraging development, but we need to wait and see [its outcome]," said Dr Gan Li, visiting associate professor of economics at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business.
He said Guangdong tended to be more progressive than other provinces in handling labour rights, partly because the sheer volume of migrant workers put them under more pressure.
Gan suggested that workers were also becoming more confident and that the internet had allowed them to read about companies such as Honda raising salaries in the wake of strikes.
"[Now] they think strikes make a difference, so I think more workers will ask for more," he said.
The authorities want to maintain economic growth and fear growing worker demands could put off foreign investors. They are also deeply wary of independent representatives.
At the same time, they are concerned that workers have real grievances that could lead to instability if they are not addressed. Recently, it was reported in China Daily that wages as a proportion of GDP fell every year between 1983 and 2005.
Dr Liu Kaiming of the Institute of Contemporary Observation said businesses were likely to oppose the proposals but that they would probably pass.
But he cautioned: "There are plenty of laws in China; the issue is how you implement them. Another problem is that workers are often unaware of these laws and don't know how to protect themselves."