China's top trade union official and lawmaker Wang Zhaoguo
proposed Wednesday an amendment to the Trade Union Law, making it
compulsory for foreign-funded companies to unionize.
The move is aimed at countering obstinate refusals by foreign
companies, including the world's leading retailer Wal-Mart, to
recognize trade unions for employees in China.
Wang, president of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions
(ACFTU) and vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National
People's Congress, said he would "initiate amendments to the Trade
Union Law stipulating that companies are obligated to safeguard the
establishment of trade unions."
The existing law says that employees may apply for setting up
labor unions at their will but fails to specify the duty of
companies in assisting such an installation.
Many foreign companies, including the Wal-Mart, has been taking
advantage of this stipulation to obstruct the setting up of a
union, an ACFTU official said.
Wang admitted that it has been a tough task to unionize in
foreign companies, mainly located in economically boomed coastal
regions in the East.
"We started to push Wal-Mart to set up union branches two years
ago, yet there is not a single one built so far," Wang said, "we
will continue to work on this."
As early as 2003, ACFTU has made repeated efforts talking to the
retail giant about setting up trade unions, which all turned in
vain, as Wal-Mart responded that according to Chinese law, a trade
union could only be installed at the free request of employees, and
since there have been no requests yet, there is no necessity to
establish a union.
The retailer also said it had constituted a series of
regulations under Chinese laws, especially those that relate to
trade unions, offering effective channels to resolve complains from
employees.
However, ACFTU officials said though many employees of
foreign-funded companies wish to join a trade union, they cannot
afford to raise the issue for fear of losing jobs or other
benefits.
Chinese law stated that a trade union is usually required to be
installed at every company of a certain scale, which is different
from that of the United States, which allows workers to establish
their own trade unions, without organizational affiliations to
their employers.
Up to date, China has more than 100,000 overseas companies, plus
those from Taiwan, Hongkong and Macao, but no more than three
tenths have built labor unions.
"Without trade union's protection to employees, many foreign
companies only grant the least standard of salary to workers to
save costs," Wang Zhaoguo said.
"In a long run, these companies will also hurt domestic
producers by squeezing the purchase price at a very low level to
afford the cheap prices of their goods, thus cause vicious
competition within the industry," the top unionist said.
ACFTU now have 1.17 million branches across China with 150
million members. About 7.7 million trade unions are set up in
companies.
Wal-Mart is accelerating its store openings in China - it plans
to open at least 18 this year, according to a Los Angeles
Times report, it had bought goods worth US$18
billion?from Chinese manufacturers last year.
(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2006)