In the wake of two high-profile SOE restructuring disputes – the Tonghua incident, in which a company manager died, and the Linzhou incident in which a manager was taken hostage – the question of who should protect workers’ interests and how that should be done has once again come into the public focus. As the only organization legally allowed to represent workers’ interests, naturally I have been following the ACFTU’s website to gauge their response. However, figuring out what their exact response has been is somewhat of a frustrating experience, and it almost seems as if they’ve made their specific response to be strongly worded but elusive to find, perhaps to maintain a low-profile. And perhaps not unsurprisingly then, upon finding their response, in the form of an Opinion and a Circular, it’s clear that their weakness inside the Chinese bureaucracy has prevented them from doing anything other than sending out ineffective but self-consoling statements.
As far as the Tonghua and Linzhou incidents are concerned, there’s only one heading on the ACFTU’s website that would seem to indirectly refer to the events. The headline states, “Special Topic: In National SOE Restructuring – Union Participation Is a Must” (专题：国企改制 工会参与必不可少). See screenshot:
Upon clicking on that, one is taken to a page with a series of articles on the SOE restructuring process, hosted on 中工网 (Chinese Worker’s Net).
In this series of articles, there is:
-A fairly objective opinion article by a Shandong official about the problems in the SOE restructuring process and ideas to solve it.
-A Xinhua article about the Tonghua incident.
- A China News.com (中国新闻网) editorial that is critical of Tonghua’s actions and that calls for the rule of law (依法治国, which some people translate as ‘rule by law’).
- A Xinhua editorial saying that the legal rights and interests of workers must be protected during the SOE restructuring process.
- An editorial from a local newspaper arguing that the Tonghua article teaches us that we must pay attention to the rights and interests of workers.
-An article, dated 17 August 2009, from the ACFTU entitled, “Opinions of the ACFTU Regarding the Further Strengthening SOE Restructuring and Bankruptcy Union Work”(中华全国总工会关于进一步加强国有企业改制和关闭破产中工会工作的意见).
− And finally, the series ends with nine articles describing how local branches of the ACFTU have been successful in managing the SOE restructuring process.
In other words, as far as one can tell, the ACFTU’s only reaction to the Tonghua incident was to compile a series of pro-worker editorials and various articles discussing some positive measures that have been adopted in local areas. Interestingly, the one article that came directly from the ACFTU – the Opinion about the need to strengthen work habits in the face of SOE restructuring – was actually first published in 2007, and like an old classic record that never gets old, was brought out again to fit a new, but all-too-familiar, circumstance.
According to Internet sources, including the prominent Chinese labour scholar Yu Jianrong’s blog, on 14 August 2009 the ACFTU also issued a circular entitled “Circular Regarding Strengthening Democratic Management Work During the Restructuring, Reorganization, and Bankruptcy of SOEs” 《关于在企业改制重组关闭破产中进一步加强民主管理工作的通知》. Oddly, the Circular does not seem to be on the ACFTU website (although the entirety of the Circular seems to be available on this baidu blog site).
Nonetheless, Xinhua reports that the Circular states this seemingly good news:
However, Yu believes that, barring reform of the union’s position in government, the ACFTU’s re-issuing of the Opinion regarding the need to strengthen the process of SOE restructuring amounts to a “self consolation” (自慰).
The core problem is that the ACFTU is not in a position of authority to carry out or enforce its own edicts. To a large extent, although the ACFTU has always had a close relationship with the Party and the government, it has become increasingly subservient and dependant on the Party and government over the last few year, as the CLB “Protecting Workers Rights or Serving the Party: The way forward for China’s Trade Unions” has shown. In the same vein, Yu Jianrong points out that:
Clearly, the ACFTU’s subordinate and awkward position within the bureaucracy doesn’t give it the power it needs to represent workers. The Party and government should increase the ACFTU’s standing, or they should create another channel to allow workers to exercise their interests, in order to avoid another tragic Tonghua-like incident from happening and to increase social stability by solving the problem at its roots.
Whether it is in the contentious and competitive steel industry or in other industries, for both Chinese and international labour activists, there needs to be a stronger sense of solidarity and more recognition that workers everywhere are under threat from the same global dynamics. A recent blog post in “In these Times” explores how we might go about doing that.
Update (4 September 2009): Since this blog post was published, the ACFTU has updated their website with a five-part series explaining the “Opinions of the ACFTU Regarding the Further Strengthening SOE Restructuring and Bankruptcy Union Work”. See: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
As far as the Tonghua and Linzhou incidents are concerned, there’s only one heading on the ACFTU’s website that would seem to indirectly refer to the events. The headline states, “Special Topic: In National SOE Restructuring – Union Participation Is a Must” (专题：国企改制 工会参与必不可少). See screenshot:
Upon clicking on that, one is taken to a page with a series of articles on the SOE restructuring process, hosted on 中工网 (Chinese Worker’s Net).
In this series of articles, there is:
-A fairly objective opinion article by a Shandong official about the problems in the SOE restructuring process and ideas to solve it.
-A Xinhua article about the Tonghua incident.
- A China News.com (中国新闻网) editorial that is critical of Tonghua’s actions and that calls for the rule of law (依法治国, which some people translate as ‘rule by law’).
- A Xinhua editorial saying that the legal rights and interests of workers must be protected during the SOE restructuring process.
- An editorial from a local newspaper arguing that the Tonghua article teaches us that we must pay attention to the rights and interests of workers.
-An article, dated 17 August 2009, from the ACFTU entitled, “Opinions of the ACFTU Regarding the Further Strengthening SOE Restructuring and Bankruptcy Union Work”(中华全国总工会关于进一步加强国有企业改制和关闭破产中工会工作的意见).
− And finally, the series ends with nine articles describing how local branches of the ACFTU have been successful in managing the SOE restructuring process.
In other words, as far as one can tell, the ACFTU’s only reaction to the Tonghua incident was to compile a series of pro-worker editorials and various articles discussing some positive measures that have been adopted in local areas. Interestingly, the one article that came directly from the ACFTU – the Opinion about the need to strengthen work habits in the face of SOE restructuring – was actually first published in 2007, and like an old classic record that never gets old, was brought out again to fit a new, but all-too-familiar, circumstance.
According to Internet sources, including the prominent Chinese labour scholar Yu Jianrong’s blog, on 14 August 2009 the ACFTU also issued a circular entitled “Circular Regarding Strengthening Democratic Management Work During the Restructuring, Reorganization, and Bankruptcy of SOEs” 《关于在企业改制重组关闭破产中进一步加强民主管理工作的通知》. Oddly, the Circular does not seem to be on the ACFTU website (although the entirety of the Circular seems to be available on this baidu blog site).
Nonetheless, Xinhua reports that the Circular states this seemingly good news:
Enterprise restructuring plans to be submitted to workers representative conferences (职工代表大会) or to worker representative conferences for submission, plans involving major issues that lay off workers and arrange (for workers to change jobs) and that involve workers vital interests that have not been gone through worker representative conference consideration (审议) should not be carried out; neither decisions that have not been open nor decisions that have not gone through the workers representative congresses shall be seen as valid.
However, Yu believes that, barring reform of the union’s position in government, the ACFTU’s re-issuing of the Opinion regarding the need to strengthen the process of SOE restructuring amounts to a “self consolation” (自慰).
The core problem is that the ACFTU is not in a position of authority to carry out or enforce its own edicts. To a large extent, although the ACFTU has always had a close relationship with the Party and the government, it has become increasingly subservient and dependant on the Party and government over the last few year, as the CLB “Protecting Workers Rights or Serving the Party: The way forward for China’s Trade Unions” has shown. In the same vein, Yu Jianrong points out that:
The problem is: for the ACFTU, as a “mass organizations formed by the working classes of their own free will”, its Circulars are not the ruling Party’s policies, and they are not the laws of the National People’s Congress, and nor are they government statutes; as far the State Council, local governments, and enterprises are concerned, its provisions don’t have binding force, and it also doesn’t have any method or any power to make those (SOE restructuring) plans that don’t consider workers’ interests to be invalid.
Clearly, the ACFTU’s subordinate and awkward position within the bureaucracy doesn’t give it the power it needs to represent workers. The Party and government should increase the ACFTU’s standing, or they should create another channel to allow workers to exercise their interests, in order to avoid another tragic Tonghua-like incident from happening and to increase social stability by solving the problem at its roots.
Whether it is in the contentious and competitive steel industry or in other industries, for both Chinese and international labour activists, there needs to be a stronger sense of solidarity and more recognition that workers everywhere are under threat from the same global dynamics. A recent blog post in “In these Times” explores how we might go about doing that.
Update (4 September 2009): Since this blog post was published, the ACFTU has updated their website with a five-part series explaining the “Opinions of the ACFTU Regarding the Further Strengthening SOE Restructuring and Bankruptcy Union Work”. See: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.