7-14-06,11:08am

New legislation may be needed to secure the rights of workers in all foreign enterprises

Wang Zhaoguo, China's top trade union leader, has expressed serious concern over low trade union organising rates in the country's fast growing foreign enterprise sector. In a statement published on Thursday by the Xinhua news agency, Wang pointed at Wal-Mart as a particularly bad example when it comes to respecting the right of workers to unionise. He said that special legislation may be needed to ensure that also foreign enterprises allow the All-China Federation of Trade Unions ACFTU to establish union locals.



[ACFTU president and top Communist Party leader Wang Zhaoguo is not happy with Wal-Mart's approach to its Chinese workers. After years of efforts, there is not a single union at the company's workplaces in China. It is obvious that with over 8 million urban unemployed, 1.5 million who have been laid off, the Bentonville giant's management by fear keeps the Chinese workers out of their union. Now, Wal-Mart and others may well come to face new legislation, which will force them to make sure that ACFTU can enter the workplaces.](Photo caption)

'We started to push Wal-Mart to set up union branches two years ago, yet there is not a single one built so far,' ACFTU President Wang said, 'We will continue to work on this.'

Recently, there have been contacts between UNI and UNI Commerce, and ACFTU, concerning a cooperation to organise in Wal-Mart and other multinational retailers in China. Some of the leading multinational retailers with whom UNI Commerce is engaged in a global social dialogue, such as Carrefour and Metro, already have relations with ACFTU, who are present at their workplaces.

Reportedly, there is a union presence in only 10 per cent of the 500,000 foreign investment based enterprises in China. Even if the country's labour legislation provides for trade unions to be established at workplaces it does not give enterprises any obligations to actively make this possible.

In talks between UNI Commerce and ACFTU representatives it has indeed become apparent that Wal-Mart workers are afraid of losing their jobs if they call for a union to be established.

With 8.39 million urban unemployed at the end of last year, 1.53 million who had been laid off, it is easy to understand their fears. And on the company side, closing down the store in De Jonquiere in Canada some time ago rather than negotiating a collective agreement with the workers' union UFCW, shows that management is prepared to take as brutal steps as they think are needed.

And the situation will not get easier:

- In the next three to five years, China's working population will peak, increasing employment pressures on society,' ACFTU Vice President and First Secretary Sun Chunlan said to the Xinhua news agency on Thursday, citing the growing number of migrant workers and college graduates.

- Many unemployed and laid-off workers lead hard lives, in terms of employment, education, healthcare and housing, Sun Chunlan added, reporting on steps that the unions want to take to alleviate the situation, including the promotion of small entrepreneurships.

It is thus hardly surprising that ACFTU wants to take to stronger methods to force Wal-Mart and others to accept that their workers unionise. Confederation president Wang calls for changes in trade union legislation, which would ensure the active cooperation also by this kind of enterprises to help workers form unions. Also a 'black list' of anti-union companies could be possible.

Wal-Mart's anti-union behaviour is an open challenge to a major campaign which ACFTU launched last April, with the aim of promoting harmony between labour and management.

To make this possible, ACFTU says, enterprises should:

- strictly enforce the labor contract system and build up a system of collective bargaining;

- protect the economic rights and interests of workers;

- uphold and perfect democratic management systems such as the system of workers' congress;

- respect and protect the spiritual and cultural rights of workers;

- build up organizations for supervision by trade unions over the implementation of labor laws and organizations for mediation of labor disputes in enterprises;

- protect the legitimate rights and interests of women workers and minors;

- strengthen trade union organizations, and

- support trade unions in carrying out their work and pay union dues in accordance with law.