The Wall Street Journal's China Journal and Reuters both gave the report prominent coverage, see below. While the trade union website Labour Start made the report one of its top stories for the week.
In China, What Workers Want
10 July 2009
A new report from the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin (available for download here) takes an in-depth look at how China’s workers movement developed in 2007 and 2008, years which saw the introduction of new legislation intended to protect workers, including a new labor contract law, and a corresponding increase in employees’ awareness of their rights, along with an economic slowdown that threatens jobs.
Government figures show that the number of labor arbitration cases nearly doubled from 2007 to 2008, from 350,000 to 693,000. A senior official from China’s Supreme People’s Court said 2008 saw a 95% increase in labor disputes in the courts, though detailed figures haven’t been released. Meanwhile, reports of worker unrest, protests and strikes have become a regular feature of the news from China.
And what are workers fighting for? In the recent unrest at a toy factory in southern China, which was apparently the spark for deadly riots 2,800 miles away in Urumqi, a rumor that Uighur workers had raped Han women may have kindled existing tensions among Han workers who felt that they were being pushed out by Uighurs who were willing to work for lower pay.
In its report, China Labour Bulletin analyzed 100 reported incidents of protests by workers that it said represented the broader labor situation, and identified several basic causes noted below:
• Rights protection: More than a third of the protests involved a clear violation of the workers’ rights, such as non-payment of wages, social security contributions or severance pay.
• Improved conditions: Another third of the protests went beyond basic rights protection and involved demands for better contract terms, including higher pay, shorter hours or more generous benefits. In some cases, workers fought back against changes proposed by employers who didn’t first seek their consent. (Some changes to working conditions require employee consent, though in practice employers sometimes act unilaterally.)
• Financial difficulties on the employer’s side: Twelve out of the 100 protests were triggered by sudden factory closures and/or the owners’ disappearance. When this happens, workers often feel they have little recourse but to protest publicly and hope that the attention prompts local authorities to settle the matter. In another 14 cases, workers protested in response to measures taken by the management to save money, such as pay cuts, replacing existing employees with new, less expensive workers, or refusing to pay severance.
And in the vast majority of cases, the protests were peaceful. According to the report, only five of the 100 cases resulted in property damage or physical clashes between workers and managers, and those involved long-simmering resentments among workers.
Chinese workers seek rights in court, not unions10 July 2009
BEIJING (Reuters) - Workers in China have become more aware of their rights and willing to go to court to fight for them, but are still hampered by an official ban on independent unions, a labour activist said on Thursday.
Publicity over the 2008 Labour Contract Law, which was opposed by some private business owners and foreign investors, is partly responsible for increased awareness, said Geoffrey Crothall, editor of China Labour Bulletin (CLB), which on Thursday released a survey of labour disputes in China.
Local governments are also becoming somewhat more accommodating of workers' claims, although in some industries, particularly coal mining, they collude with bosses to stamp out worker action, he said..
"In general, the Chinese government is more conciliatory towards Chinese workers, but that's not to say that everything in the garden is rosy," Crothall told reporters.
"Workers are still harassed and detained, although they are less likely to receive long prison sentences.
Collectively, Chinese workers still lack a mechanism to resolve disputes stemming from unpaid wages and poor working conditions, particularly after an economic downturn last year and made economic growth China's main priority, he said.
The state-backed All China Federation of Trade Unions is unlikely to fight for workers against owners, since its branches are often dominated by management and local party officials.
The union, which collects dues from members' wages, last year made a strong push to expand into foreign multinationals' operations in China.
Chinese workers are forbidden from forming independent trade unions.
But singly, workers have seen increased success when they pursue cases through the courts, CLB found.
"The legal process does work. There are still lots of problems, but if the worker manages to take the boss to court, and manages to jump through the hoops, there's a good chance he'll win," Crothall told reporters.
That has spurred some bosses to hire their own lawyers and attempt to drag out court cases until the plaintiffs give up, Crothall said.
Ironically the Labour Contract Law also contributed to abuses before it was implemented last year, as many factory owners tried to fire long-time employees and reinstate them as sort-term workers in order to deny them benefits.
CLB founder Han Dongfang, a worker activist during the Tiananmen protests of 1989, was imprisoned and exiled from China and now runs the organisation from Hong Kong.