The nascent workers’ movement in China is helping to drive the county’s legislative development, CLB Director Han Dongfang told a Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing in Washington DC on 18 June.
Three major labour laws have been promulgated in the last year, and local governments across China have introduced new regulations aimed at protecting workers’ rights and improving relations between labour and management. Han pointed out in his testimony to the hearing on What Will Drive China's Future Legal Development? Reports from the Field, that these laws have not been introduced because the government is particularly enlightened, but because workers’ protests against widespread and continued rights violations left it with little option but to change the law, as a means of forestalling increased labour conflict.
Han stressed, however, that legislative change was in and of itself not enough; laws have to be enforced and workers must be allowed to exercise their rights. More and more workers are using the labour arbitration and court system to seek redress for violations of their rights, and the majority of worker law suits have been successful. However, Han said, much still needs to be done. Both the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), he said, had a key role to play in protecting and supporting workers’ rights and in establishing a system of peaceful and constructive dialogue between labour and management.
Han noted that the tremendous outpouring of good will after the Wenchuan earthquake had given the central government in Beijing a historic opportunity to maintain and enhance public support by actively encouraging the participation of NGOs, ordinary citizens, particularly workers, in the future development of civil society in China.
“If it has the vision and courage to do so,” Han said, “Beijing will take a significant step towards realizing its own goal of creating a ‘harmonious society,’ one in which citizens not only have confidence in and respect for the law, but also are active participants in the legal process and play a role in promoting greater social justice for all.”
Han’s written testimony The Prospects for Legal Enforcement of Labor Rights in China Today – A Glass Half Full is published here as a PDF and will also be available on the CECC website.