1. The workers and union
movement in China
June 3rd, 2014
BCFL/VDLC Delegation

2. Who leads the workers
movement in China?

3. All-China Federation of Trade
Unions

4. What kind of workers’
organization is it?

5.  Long history: founded in 1925.
 Its predecessor China Labour Secretariat was founded
on August 11, 1922.
 The Chinese Communist Party has been instrumental
in setting up this national trade union body
 It has been never far from national politics.

6. Chinese Communist Party (1921)
 The First Decision as to the Object of the Communist Party of
China (1921) began: “To form industrial unions is the chief aim of
our party” (Chen Kung-po, 1966:103).
 First Manifesto on the Current Situation (1921): The Chinese
Communist Party, as the vanguard of the proletariat, struggles for
working-class liberation and for the proletarian revolution.
 Manifesto of the Second Congress (1922): At present, in the
interest of workers and poor peasants, the Chinese Communist
Party must bring the workers to help the democratic movement
and get the workers, the poor peasants and the petty bourgeoisie
to set up a democratic united form.

7. Leading workers’ struggles
1922-1949

8. The Anyuan Railroad Workers and Miners’ Strike (Sept. 13, 1922)
Mao Zedong

9. Liu Shaoqi—President of China 1959-1966
Honorary Chairman of the ACFTU 1948-1957

11. “The Chinese people have stood up!”

12. Structure
 Workers would be organized on an industrial and
geographical basis rather than occupational lines
(the ACFTU’s 6th Congress in 1948)

13. ACFTU
 Provincial level
 Local (municipal,
county-level)
 Grassroots level
(enterprise, institution)
 10 national industrial
unions (railway, civil
aviation, seaman, ect.)

14. Constitution of the Chinese
Trade Unions
 Adopted on 21 October 2008
 General principle: The Chinese trade unions are
mass organizations of the Chinese working class
under the leadership of the Communist Party of
China and formed by the workers of their own free
will. They serve as a bridge and link between the
Party and workers and an important social pillar of
the state power and represent the interests of the
trade union members and workers.

15. Basic duty
 The basic duty of the Chinese trade unions is to protect
the legitimate rights and Interests of the workers and staff
members. In the course of developing the socialist
market economy, the Chinese trade unions, in
accordance with the regulations of the State’s Labour law
and other relevant laws, actively safeguard workers’
political rights, their right to work and their material and
cultural interests; participate in coordinating labour
relations and regulating social contradictions and make
efforts to promote the economic development and a long-
term social stability of the country (www.acftu.org).

16. Unions role in the past:
1949-1978
 Transmission belt (Leninist
transmission belt model of trade
unionism): the trade union functions
as an intermediary, transmitting
Party policy and directives
downwards to workers and
reflecting workers’ interests
upwards to the Party (Howell, 2008
p. 849).

17.  Production
 Education
 Recreation
 Welfare (including
welfare units, such
as hospitals, clinics,
schools and
childcare facilities

20.  Overall,
harmonized the
interests of labour
and management;
served socialist
construction.

21. Challenges after economic
reforms (1978-)
 Losing core union members as a result of
SOE restructuring
 Lack of membership in the private sector
and particularly foreign-owned enterprises
 No experience of organizing workers from
bottom-up
 Ineffective enterprise trade unions

22. Trade Union Law
 1992: new version
passed on April 3,
replacing the 1950
trade union law
 2001: revised on
October 27

23. Trade Union representation
 Principle: democratic
centralism
 Article 9: “Trade union
committees at various
levels shall be
democratically elected at
members' assemblies or
members' congresses. No
close relatives of the chief
members of an enterprise
may be candidates for
members of the basic-level
trade union committee of
the enterprise.’
 Article 10 “A basic-level trade
union committee shall be set up
in an enterprise, an institution or
a government department with a
membership of twenty-five or
more; where the membership is
less than twenty-five, a basic-
level trade union committee may
be separately set up, or a basic-
level trade union committee may
be set up jointly by the members
in two or more work units, or an
organizer may be elected, to
organize the members in various
activities…”

24.  The term of basic-
union committee 3-5
years
 Members' assemblies
or members'
congresses should be
convened at regular
intervals

25. Collective contracts
 Article 20: Trade unions shall assist
and guide workers and staff
members in signing labor contracts
with enterprises or institutions
managed as enterprises.
 Trade unions shall, on behalf of the
workers and staff members, make
equal consultations and sign
collective contracts with enterprises
or institutions under enterprise-style
management. The draft collective
contracts shall be submitted to the
congresses of the workers and staff
members or all the workers and staff
members for deliberation and
approval.
 When trade unions sign collective
contracts, trade unions at higher
levels shall afford support and
assistance to them.
 Where a worker or staff member
believes that the enterprise infringes
upon his labor rights and interests
and therefore applies for labor
dispute arbitration or brings the case
before a People's Court, the trade
union shall give him support and
assistance.

26. Dealing with labour
grievances and disputes
• A three-tier system for
handling grievances:
internal firm mediation
(within enterprise and
tripartite consultation);
compulsory labour
arbitration through labour
arbitration committees;
civil court litigation
• Providing legal services
to workers

27. Labour legislation
 Article 33 When organizing
people to draft or revise
laws, regulations or rules
directly related to the
immediate interests of
workers and staff members,
the government
departments shall listen to
the opinions of trade
unions.


28. Voice in decision-making
 Involve in government
decision-making,
including legislation
and development
policies
 When working out plans for national
economic and social development, the
people's governments at or above the
county level shall, where major
questions related to the interests of
workers and staff members are
concerned, listen to the opinions of the
trade unions at the corresponding
levels.
 When studying and working out
policies and measures on employment,
wages, occupational safety and health,
social insurance, and other questions
related to the immediate interests of
workers and staff members, the
people's governments at or above the
county level and their relevant
departments shall invite the trade
unions at the corresponding levels to
take part in the study and listen to their
opinions.

29. E.g. Labour Contract Law
(2007)
• Model: greater social
protection, less precarious
employment
• Drafted on October 2005
• Released to public
discussion in March 2006;
reflects transparency and
public participation

30. • The lobbying effort of foreign business
associates against the Law (American
Chamber of Commerce; EU Chamber of
Commerce)

31. • Labour NGOs’ support for the
Law:
• Global Labour Strategies
• Workers Rights Consortium

32. • Major concerns were debated:
• Fixed-term contracts (permanent ongoing employment after two
fixed-term contracts)
• Work rules and enterprise decision making (union veto power over
rules)
• Trade union rights and responsibilities (setting collective contracts)
• Labour subcontracting and informalization
• Guideline on layoff
• 4 drafts

33. • The Law was passed in 2007, effective since
January 1, 2008:
• The final draft was a compromise—the debated articles have
been revised, e.g. union’s veto power over management removed

34. • Implementation effect:
• Labour contracts rate increased
• Labour rights consciousness improved –
collective consciousness

35. Recent efforts…

36. Unionizing workers
 Large scale unionization campaign:
 1994 : 17,293 trade unions were set up in
foreign-invested enterprises, nearly double
the figure for the previous 10 years.
 In March 2006, then President Hu Jintao
ordered ACFTU to do a better job at building
TUs in private sector, especially FIEs.

37.  Hu said, "Do a
better job of building
(Communist) Party
organizations and
trade unions in
foreign-invested
enterprises.”

38.  In 2006, only 26 percent of
China's 150,000 foreign
companies have unions.
 Unionizing employees at 60
percent of China's foreign
companies.
 1,324, 000 enterprises in 2006
 1,845,000 in 2009
 Unionize from bottom-up

39. E.g. Wal-mart

40.  Southern city of Quanzhou
 Employees voted July 29 to form the
company's first Chinese union
 Since then, employees at 16 other Wal-
Marts in China also have formed unions
 After resisting for two years, August 10,
2006 Wal-mart agreed the unionization of
30,000 employees at its 60 Chinese outlets

41.  Workers of Wal-Mart’s Xuanwumen Shop in Beijing
form a trade union in August, 2006

42.  Unionize migrant workers –
since 2003

43. ACFTU members
 Currently, members 290
million; among them
110 million rural migrant
workers; members in
private sector 170
million

44. Other efforts
 1. Democratization of
enterprise TU:
Guangdong provincial
TU pilot direct election,
training for workers

45.  2. Establishing a collective consultation
(bargaining) system nationwide:
 In 2008, the Ministry of Human Resource and
Social Security issued a “Rainbow Plan” which
set a goal of establishing a collective bargaining
system in eastern and central China first, then
expanding it to all of China.
 According to the 3-year plan by ACFTU in 2011,
by the end of 2013, 80% of all companies would
be covered by collective wage bargaining
agreements.

46. E.g. Beijing MFTU
 In 2010, working to establish a special fund to pay
grassroots [workplace] trade union leaders. Ensure that
they will be paid not by employers, but by unions. Aim to
make grassroots trade unions more independent in their
negotiations with employers, when workers' rights and
interests are violated.

49. International unionism
• The new national union in America, the Change to Win federation
initiated dialogue with the ACFTU after its split with the AFL-CIO
(American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial
Organizations), visited the ACFTU in May 2007.
• International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) (formed on 1
November 2006, from the former International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the World Confederation of Labour),
voted to seek engagement with the ACFTU in December 2007.
• “Given that approximately one quarter of the global working class is
Chinese and that China is the favoured destination of global foreign
direct investment, the ITUC’s change of direction is profoundly
significant” (Pringle, 2011 p.1)

50. Therefore…
 In the last three decades, the labour movement in China
has moved to the forefront of global industrial relations,
facing the new economic environment, TUs in China
have been making efforts to effectively protecting
workers’ rights and interests
 Still a long way to go