China backs workers in foreign firms as unrest grows
China backs workers in foreign firms as unrest grows
By Geoffrey Murray
BEIJING (Kyodo): China has made it clear that it will not sacrifice workers' rights and interests for the sake of attracting more foreign investment.
The official media has recently begun highlighting labor unrest in foreign-owned companies and joint ventures, with warnings to foreign employers that they must abide by Chinese labor law, and not try to prevent their workforces from taking strike action.
No matter how much the country might need foreign capital and technology, say Chinese officials, "we cannot sacrifice the interests of Chinese laborers to please certain foreign investors."
Most of the unrest seems to be in Hong Kong-, Taiwanese- and South Korean-operated low-tech manufacturing concerns, which, in any case, Beijing regards as a less attractive type of foreign investment.
Japanese companies, so far, have escaped fairly lightly, although there was a strike at the Canon Zhuhai camera factory in the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone in 1992 over money and working conditions, which took a considerable time to resolve.
Nevertheless, with the central government now actively encouraging workers to form in-house unions and to battle for their rights -- supported by a new Workers Law which sets out the roles and responsibilities for both sides -- more disputes are predicted.
Considerable unrest has been reported in the southern province of Guangdong, where mainly Hong Kong and Taiwanese concerns run many low-tech factories.
A recent survey of the area by the provincial branch of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions reported that almost 90 percent of workers there worked without any protection of their safety, eight out of 10 said they had been forced to work overtime or even work without pay to meet output quotas, and 18.9 percent reported they had suffered beatings or other forms of physical abuse for complaining about conditions.
The Labor Ministry says most disputes occur in the small and medium-sized enterprises, "mainly those which send materials, designs and samples to be processed in China," and which, according to one official, do not bring much capital into the country.
"They didn't bring any advanced management experience or technology. They were merely workshops, and not the main target for China in seeking to attract foreign investment," the official added.
Gradually the government has made clear that it wants these sort of operations to disappear.
Chinese newspapers rarely report strikes unless they are in joint ventures, and there is usually a message behind any stories that appear.
A recent front-page report in the Workers' Daily about a dispute at a South Korean clothing factory made its point very clearly, with a headline blaring "If you make money on Chinese land by using Chinese labor, you must abide by Chinese law."
The labor dispute occurred at the end of June but has only just been reported. In it, some 600 women at the Li Da clothing factory in the Qinhuangdao economic and technology zone in northern Hebei Province walked out in protest at poor pay and working conditions.
They demanded shorter hours, ending of excessive overtime, wage rises, proper labor contracts and "the right not to be beaten or insulted."
The Workers Law states that no more than 36 hours overtime may be worked in a month, but the clothing factory employees said this provision was completely ignored, leaving them little time for their household chores at the end of a long and tiring day's work.
The company had actually been fined 50,000 Yuan (5,747 U.S. dollars) a month before for violations of the working hours' provisions, but no changes in the schedule were made, the newspaper reported.
The management rejected the workers' initial request, declared the strike illegal, dismissed five workers' representatives and penalized nine others.
But after tough negotiations, the women won their first pay rise in two years, along with a guarantee of one day a week off work, and a maximum of 36 hours overtime a month.
More importantly, perhaps, the Communist Party committee of Qinhuangdao announced the formation of a labor union federation for workers in foreign-invested enterprises. Production targets will now be set jointly by shop stewards, trade union representatives and the foreign managers, the committee announced.
The latter is an important point. Workers accustomed to lackadaisical work routines at state-run enterprises, where quotas or lack of orders leave employees with a lot of time on their hands, have had something of a shock when moving to foreign-run companies where wages are higher -- but so are the demands on their time.
Japanese companies complain of a high turnover of workers, for example, primarily due to those who quit thinking "we're expected to work too hard."
Meanwhile, in another dispute reported by the Workers' Daily, the Hong Kong general manager of Beijing's prestigious Palace Hotel, a venture built with money from the British colony, was forced to retract the dismissals of four workers after protests by other employees.
The four drivers were dismissed on the grounds that the hotel's business was not good. They responded by barricading the front entrance of the hotel with a bus until they won reinstatement.
The newspaper said the hotel had failed to abide by Chinese law requiring 15 days notice of dismissal. The men had also lost their jobs without the knowledge of the hotel's trade union or its Chinese joint general manager, the paper said.
The Workers' Daily reported the result of the dispute at the Li Dang factory as a victory for the workers, and quoted the factory manager as contritely accepting the need to abide by Chinese law.
Other Chinese newspapers which reported the incident and the trouble at the Palace Hotel emphasized that it is important for foreign investors to "draw the right lessons" if they want to enjoy labor harmony in their operations.