2008-09-13 13:15:15globalist
中國要求外商籌組工會：外商新挑戰
中國政府要求所有外商在九月三十日前全面開放公司內籌組工會，外商可能擔心未來增加工人談判及要求加薪福利，導致成本上升，但，其實他們不知道的是，中國此舉絕不是要增加成本，而是要掌控外商，中國不在乎工人的權益，他要用工會，喔，是政府控制的工會，來間接控制政府部門較難掌控的外商公司，只是外商還不知道呢！
Foreign companies pushed to allow Chinese unions
By David Barboza
Thursday, September 11, 2008
SHANGHAI: Some of the world's biggest corporations are facing intense pressure from China to allow state-approved unions to form in their Chinese facilities, though many companies fear that admitting the unions will give their Chinese employees the power to disrupt their operations and will significantly increase the cost of doing business.
The companies, many of which moved to China to lower manufacturing costs and even to avoid unions in their home countries, are being asked by the Communist Party's only certified union to meet a Sept. 30 deadline to establish a local union.
Companies that do not comply risk being publicly vilified or blacklisted by the union and perhaps penalized by the government, since companies are required by law to allow unions to form; those that comply worry that operations could be impeded or slowed.
Union officials say they are concentrating on global companies, but Chinese companies, which make up the bulk of the manufacturing work force, are also expected to face audits and pressure to allow unions to form.
Lawyers and analysts say that demands being pushed by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the country's monopoly union, could drastically alter business practices of foreign companies in China, including giving lower-level workers the power to bargain for anything from pay raises to whether a Chinese headquarters should be moved.
"At the very least, company management must now consult, and in many cases bargain, with employees and unions on a wide range of matters, whereas in the past they enjoyed almost unlimited autonomy," says Andreas Lauffs, a lawyer at Baker & McKenzie's Shanghai office who is an authority on China's labor laws.
The union push is coming at a time when global corporations are already facing rising labor and commodity costs in China, which is struggling to contain inflation.
But the move toward stronger unionizing also seems to be part of a sweeping government effort aimed at addressing some of the ugly consequences of China's dynamic economic growth, like rampant pollution, a widening income gap and widespread labor abuse.
Hundreds of big corporations, including Wal-Mart Stores, McDonald's and Yum Brands, which operates the KFC and Pizza Hut restaurant chains, have helped set up unions in their Chinese operations. Union officials say, however, that some nonmanufacturing companies are resisting. Microsoft's China operation did not respond to questions about the union drive. The consulting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers said that its workers were not unionized but that it was studying the matter.
For years, Western labor advocates have focused on China's manufacturing industry, exposing hundreds of "sweatshops" that employ child labor, require workers to toil long hours (sometimes 100 hours a week) without overtime pay or benefits, and violate labor and safety rules.
In recent years, some of the world's biggest brand names, including Wal-Mart, Disney and Adidas, have been singled out for using contractors that violate China's labor laws. The companies have, in many cases, investigated the claims and fired contractors.
Long considered weak and ineffective, the state-controlled union, which already claims to have 200 million members, now appears to be gaining standing with Communist Party leaders. In 2004, the National People's Congress, the state legislative body, carried out inspections of companies operating in China to ensure that they were following labor laws and had dues-paying union members.
Union officials are aiming at the China operations of the 500 biggest global corporations, which would mean millions of new union members, saying they intend to combat worker exploitation.
"As the economy and society develops, China needs to improve workers' legal rights and interests, which is a demand of a civilized society," Wang Ying, an official at the All-China Federation of Trade Unions in Beijing, said by telephone this week.
Forming unions could be costly because a union could fight for higher wages and benefits and because companies are required to pay 2 percent payroll dues. That sum could be substantial for big operations like Yum Brands, which has about 160,000 employees in China.
But whether unions can really protect workers and collectively bargain on their behalf is still in question.
Some experts say big corporations operating here could easily find ways to thwart unions and render them powerless, but other experts say the unions could evolve into powerful forces within the companies. "After you set up a union, these groups have to know how to become representatives of the workers, and really collectively bargain," said Anita Chan, an authority on labor issues in China who is a visiting research fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra.
Many big corporations in China that have recently allowed unions to form under pressure have declined to comment on the union drive. Some company spokesmen have admitted privately that they do not want to raise the ire of the state-controlled union or anger China's political leaders.
But several big companies said they were working well with the union. Wal-Mart, which for years has fought hard against unions in the United States and elsewhere, now has unions operating in nearly all of its 108 stores in China. "We have a good relationship working with the union," said Jonathan Dong, a Wal-Mart spokesman in China. "The union provides a complement to what we do."
Wang, the official at the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, said that by the end of September about 80 percent of the top 500 global corporations operating in China will have unions here.
"We are making great progress," she said.
Foreign companies pushed to allow Chinese unions
By David Barboza
Thursday, September 11, 2008
SHANGHAI: Some of the world's biggest corporations are facing intense pressure from China to allow state-approved unions to form in their Chinese facilities, though many companies fear that admitting the unions will give their Chinese employees the power to disrupt their operations and will significantly increase the cost of doing business.
The companies, many of which moved to China to lower manufacturing costs and even to avoid unions in their home countries, are being asked by the Communist Party's only certified union to meet a Sept. 30 deadline to establish a local union.
Companies that do not comply risk being publicly vilified or blacklisted by the union and perhaps penalized by the government, since companies are required by law to allow unions to form; those that comply worry that operations could be impeded or slowed.
Union officials say they are concentrating on global companies, but Chinese companies, which make up the bulk of the manufacturing work force, are also expected to face audits and pressure to allow unions to form.
Lawyers and analysts say that demands being pushed by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the country's monopoly union, could drastically alter business practices of foreign companies in China, including giving lower-level workers the power to bargain for anything from pay raises to whether a Chinese headquarters should be moved.
"At the very least, company management must now consult, and in many cases bargain, with employees and unions on a wide range of matters, whereas in the past they enjoyed almost unlimited autonomy," says Andreas Lauffs, a lawyer at Baker & McKenzie's Shanghai office who is an authority on China's labor laws.
The union push is coming at a time when global corporations are already facing rising labor and commodity costs in China, which is struggling to contain inflation.
But the move toward stronger unionizing also seems to be part of a sweeping government effort aimed at addressing some of the ugly consequences of China's dynamic economic growth, like rampant pollution, a widening income gap and widespread labor abuse.
Hundreds of big corporations, including Wal-Mart Stores, McDonald's and Yum Brands, which operates the KFC and Pizza Hut restaurant chains, have helped set up unions in their Chinese operations. Union officials say, however, that some nonmanufacturing companies are resisting. Microsoft's China operation did not respond to questions about the union drive. The consulting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers said that its workers were not unionized but that it was studying the matter.
For years, Western labor advocates have focused on China's manufacturing industry, exposing hundreds of "sweatshops" that employ child labor, require workers to toil long hours (sometimes 100 hours a week) without overtime pay or benefits, and violate labor and safety rules.
In recent years, some of the world's biggest brand names, including Wal-Mart, Disney and Adidas, have been singled out for using contractors that violate China's labor laws. The companies have, in many cases, investigated the claims and fired contractors.
Long considered weak and ineffective, the state-controlled union, which already claims to have 200 million members, now appears to be gaining standing with Communist Party leaders. In 2004, the National People's Congress, the state legislative body, carried out inspections of companies operating in China to ensure that they were following labor laws and had dues-paying union members.
Union officials are aiming at the China operations of the 500 biggest global corporations, which would mean millions of new union members, saying they intend to combat worker exploitation.
"As the economy and society develops, China needs to improve workers' legal rights and interests, which is a demand of a civilized society," Wang Ying, an official at the All-China Federation of Trade Unions in Beijing, said by telephone this week.
Forming unions could be costly because a union could fight for higher wages and benefits and because companies are required to pay 2 percent payroll dues. That sum could be substantial for big operations like Yum Brands, which has about 160,000 employees in China.
But whether unions can really protect workers and collectively bargain on their behalf is still in question.
Some experts say big corporations operating here could easily find ways to thwart unions and render them powerless, but other experts say the unions could evolve into powerful forces within the companies. "After you set up a union, these groups have to know how to become representatives of the workers, and really collectively bargain," said Anita Chan, an authority on labor issues in China who is a visiting research fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra.
Many big corporations in China that have recently allowed unions to form under pressure have declined to comment on the union drive. Some company spokesmen have admitted privately that they do not want to raise the ire of the state-controlled union or anger China's political leaders.
But several big companies said they were working well with the union. Wal-Mart, which for years has fought hard against unions in the United States and elsewhere, now has unions operating in nearly all of its 108 stores in China. "We have a good relationship working with the union," said Jonathan Dong, a Wal-Mart spokesman in China. "The union provides a complement to what we do."
Wang, the official at the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, said that by the end of September about 80 percent of the top 500 global corporations operating in China will have unions here.
"We are making great progress," she said.
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