The Struggle for Worker Rights

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I “The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions has devoted considerable resources to analyzing the labor scene in China, including China’s labor-related legislation, practice, and institutions. The Solidarity Center’s thoroughly researched report is a welcome tool for anyone interested in learning how trade union and other human rights are respected in China. Its scope, wealth of references, details, and examples make it an indispensable instrument for trade unionists who seek a credible source of information on this global giant. It will also be appreciated by policymakers, academics, business leaders—anyone who wants to go beyond slogans and examine how best to deal with the huge challenges posed by social and political developments taking place in the world’s most populated country and fastest growing economy.” Guy Ryder General Secretary International Confederation of Free Trade Unions

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I “There is virtually no issue in China more significant, and less well covered, than the rights of its workers. I JUSTICE for ALL Millions of children from the countryside work long hours in substandard or unsafe conditions in the factories of southern China to make export goods; meanwhile, millions of other workers, often elderly, have found themselves without jobs or pensions as state enterprises close in the ‘rust belt’ of northeastern China. This report The Struggle takes a measured and detailed look at the problem.” James Mann Author, Beijing Jeep and About Face: A History of America’s Curious Relationship With China from Nixon to Clinton for Worker Rights Former Beijing bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I “This report excels in giving a thorough and in-depth account of the worker rights situation in China. It sources from a remarkable sweep of authoritative references, from the ILO to human rights NGOs, from academics to World Bank officials, from business journals to the popular press. Its clear portrayal of the union rights situation, past and present, offers one of the most informative and insightful analyses around. The report IN CHINA will be an important pointer for policymakers in the international community and the union movement who A REPORT BY THE SOLIDARITY CENTER are concerned about social development and worker rights in China.” Trini Leung China worker rights analyst

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I SOLIDARITY CENTER PUBLICATIONS The Solidarity Center wishes to thank writer Lance I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Compa, of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, who was an independent consultant on this project, Justice for All: A Guide to Worker Rights in the Global Economy as well as the following research assistants: Jing Wang, Bess Justice for All: The Struggle for Worker Rights in Mexico Po-Chun Chen, Xiaoming (Melody) Zhang, Lin-Yuan Wang, and Robert Glase of the Cornell ILR School; Christopher Ahn Justice for All: The Struggle for Worker Rights in Sri Lanka of Cornell Law School; and Annie L. Hsu and Elizabeth Vladek Economics in Indonesia: What Every Worker Needs to Know of Columbia University Law School. We also thank other research assistants who asked not to be identified here. Unequal Equation: The Labor Code and Worker Rights in Haiti

Fay Lyle from the Solidarity Center’s Global Office is the executive editor of this report in the Justice for All series on Coming Soon in the Justice for All Series worker rights and senior manager of the Solidarity Center’s Worker Rights program. Joan Seidman Welsh is the project The Struggle for Worker Rights in Colombia editor. We particularly acknowledge the contributions and The Struggle for Worker Rights in Jordan special expertise of Solidarity Center Program Officer Xiaoxia Gong. We also thank all of the AFL-CIO and Solidarity Center The Struggle for Worker Rights in Swaziland staff members who reviewed content, provided substantive The Struggle for Worker Rights in Namibia and editorial advice, and made helpful suggestions. Finally, we are grateful to the workers whose experiences inform much of this report. Their struggle inspires us all.

Note: This report discusses some situations and events in a general context. Current conditions in China, such as the unavailability of comprehensive and reliable statistics, limited freedom of movement, and difficulty in gaining access to Chinese workers, stand in the way of full docu- mentation. Our foremost concern has been to exercise sensitivity and discretion toward organizations and workers in China who endanger their jobs, their freedom, and even their lives to secure worker rights and democratic reform. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I JUSTICE FOR ALL The Struggle for Worker Rights IN CHINA A REPORT BY THE SOLIDARITY CENTER

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I a2

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

SOLIDARITY CENTER 1925 K Street, NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006 www.solidaritycenter.org

The American Center for International Labor Solidarity (Solidarity Center) is a non-profit organization established to provide assistance to workers who are struggling to build democratic and independent trade unions around the world. It was created in 1997 through the consolidation of four regional AFL-CIO institutes. Working with unions, non-governmental organizations, and other community partners, the Solidarity Center supports programs and projects to advance worker rights and promote broad-based, sustainable economic development around the world.

Cover design by The Kamber Group Photo credits Cover, page 69: Jin Yi/ImagineChina Page 19: Liu Jianguang/ImagineChina Cover, pages 5, 81: Lou Dematteis/IFAD Page 41: Gao Feng/ImagineChina Cover, page 28: Julio Etchart/GlobalAware Page 48: Zhou Qingzan/ImagineChina Page 3: Bao Luo/ImagineChina, Jin Shizi/ImagineChina Page 63: Olivia Savoure/ImagineChina Page 8: Martine Zaugg/IFAD Page 89: Ran Wen/ImagineChina

Funding provided by a grant from the National Endowment for Democracy

ISBN 0-9761551-0-9 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

FOREWORD ...... 2 By John J. Sweeney

CHAPTER 1...... 4 Along the Silk Road to the Pearl River Delta: China’s Worker Rights History

CHAPTER 2 ...... 16 Freedom of Association, Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively China’s Labor Laws...... 16 Right to Organize...... 17 Right to Bargain Collectively ...... 26 Right to Strike...... 31

CHAPTER 3 ...... 38 Discrimination in the Workplace Discrimination Against Women Workers...... 38 Discrimination Based on Social Origin: China’s Migrant Workers ...... 44

CHAPTER 4 ...... 59 Child Labor

CHAPTER 5 ...... 68 Forced Labor

CHAPTER 6 ...... 78 A Global Power in the Balance: The Future of Worker Rights in China

AREA MAP...... 96

GLOSSARY...... 97 2

FOREWORD I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 2 By John J. Sweeney President, AFL-CIO

n this report from the Solidarity Center series Justice for All: The Struggle for Worker IRights, a team of researchers and experts led by Cornell University’s Lance Compa examines the status of worker rights in China—the global giant whose nearly 800 million workers represent one-fourth of the world’s labor force. Justice for All: The Struggle for Worker Rights in China holds China’s labor law and practice up to international standards enshrined in International Labor Organization conventions and the ILO’s 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

Today, China is changing. Its closed competes by offering investors disci- turing have profoundly altered the culture is opening up, and its people plined and exploited labor. The world economic order and the are experiencing new choices and marketization of China’s economy workers who build it. China’s low new opportunities. As Justice for All has even pitted Chinese workers wages, skilled workforce, diverse notes, wealth in China has expanded against one another—state-owned manufacturing base, and vast internal enormously. But wealth for whom? enterprise workers against their market are powerful incentives for private sector counterparts and companies throughout the world to In the vital area of human rights, migrant workers against those who relocate production. “Made in China has changed little. China has were born in the cities. China” is now a prominent emblem pursued a development strategy that on items as varied as manhole covers, denies its workers the most basic China’s entry into the World Trade computer chips, airframe compo- freedoms. Capitalism is flourishing Organization and its emergence as nents, children’s clothing and toys, under a political dictatorship that the country of choice for manufac- and heavy construction equipment.

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I For the international trade union movement, respect for As Justice for All notes, whatever fundamental worker rights is a moral and democratic imperative course international economic and political relations may take in the as well as an essential path to development and global prosperity. twenty-first century, China will be a major regional and global power. China also consumes investment new consensus about globalization. The question is: Will China’s power flows, because investors believe that For the international trade union be a force for advancing democracy, it will offer higher rates of return movement, respect for fundamental human rights, and economic and than other countries. In 2005, the worker rights is a moral and demo- social development at home, in the Multi-Fiber Arrangement will end cratic imperative as well as an essen- region, and in the world, or will textile and garment trade quotas. tial path to development and global China turn its back on this historic Economists project that the ensuing prosperity. If workers in China opportunity? If China chooses to massive shift to China of millions of cannot gain their basic rights and pursue a vision of social and eco- garment/textile manufacturing jobs a fair share of the profits and pro- nomic justice, the AFL-CIO stands will have an enormous impact on ductivity they help generate, human ready to work with China’s leaders smaller developing countries, such as rights abuses and inequality will and worker representatives to build Bangladesh, Cambodia, El Salvador, continue to grow around the world. a world in which all people prosper. and Mauritius. And if China, as a new global manu- Chinese workers, American workers, facturing center, rejects freedom of and workers throughout the world We believe that resolving the chal- association, other developing coun- deserve no less. lenge of China is key to building a tries will be pressured to follow suit.

Foreword

CHAPTER 1

4 Along the Silk Road to the Pearl River Delta:

CHAPTER 1 China’s Worker Rights History

hina is one of the world’s began in the 1870s with imported Labor in the Twentieth Century great civilizations. Its huge technology and gave rise to an indus- Cland mass has thousands of trial working class. Where industrial After the fall of the Qing Dynasty in miles of ocean coastlines and contains development was heavy, as in prov- 1911, the republican revolutionaries enormous and diverse natural re- inces like Hubei and Hebei and cities of Sun Yat-sen failed to establish a sources. With more than 1.3 billion like Shanghai and Tianjin, tradi- central government, and regional people living in China’s 23 provinces, tional guilds emerged with functions military forces controlled by warlords five autonomous regions, and four similar to those of trade unions. rose and divided China. The suppres- quasi-regional municipalities, China is the most populous country in I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I the world. China’s workers rose to organize themselves for workplace improvements and democratic reform as far back as the Song The Chinese people share one of the world’s oldest continuous civi- Dynasty, when craft workers formed their own guilds. lizations, with a written history of close to 4,000 years that comprises During the nineteenth century, the sion of these warlords and the unifi- the rise and fall of more than 20 industrialized nations of the West cation of China became the main dynasties and periods. For many and Japan sought to “open China” tasks of the early Republican govern- centuries, China was a center of to trade. In the 1840s, Britain fought ment under Sun Yat-sen, who scientific, cultural, legal, and intel- the “Opium Wars” to force China founded the Kuomintang (KMT), or lectual progress. It was the Chinese to permit imports of opium and Nationalist Party. who invented paper, printing, and other goods. Britain and other gunpowder. Western countries used military In the early years of the twentieth power (“gunboat diplomacy”) to century, China was overwhelmingly China’s workers rose to organize compel China to sign so-called poverty-stricken, and conditions for themselves for workplace improve- “unequal treaties” granting Western Chinese workers were difficult. ments and democratic reform as far nations territorial privileges and other Migrating workers sought industrial back as the Song Dynasty (420-478 rights. The Chinese viewed this as jobs, where they encountered low A.D.), when craft workers formed an attempt by the “Great Powers” wages, long hours, desolate lodging, their own guilds. Modern industries, to divide China among themselves and, usually, no medical care or such as coal mining and machinery, and to enslave the Chinese people.1 insurance. Child labor was common.

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA In this climate, industrial disputes peace conference decision to turn over izers, including Liu Shaoqi and Mao occurred frequently—more than to Japan the former German conces- Zedong, built trade unions in the 5

170 strikes between 1919 and 1921 sions in China. cities and organized millions in the CHAPTER 1 alone. In 1914, the Shanghai customs south into peasant organizations, workers organized the first conven- In China, as in most countries generating the movement that tional trade union in China’s recorded during that period, a Marxist proved to be the social base of the history. In 1919, workers in many response to industrialization and CCP and the Chinese revolution. cities of China struck in support of capitalism emerged that led to the As many as 60,000 workers staged the May Fourth movement, which founding of the Chinese Communist work stoppages or sympathy strikes was directed against the Versailles Party (CCP) in 1921. CCP organ- in Shanghai alone. The Canton- Hong Kong General Strike of 1925- 1926, called to protest the shooting of Chinese demonstrators by British colonial forces in Shanghai, helped lead to the formation of the All- China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) in 1925, in which both the CCP and the KMT played an important role. Initially, many CCP members held dual membership in the KMT as part of the “united front” policy advocated by the Comintern (Communist International, the international communist organization founded by Lenin in 1919). In the late 1920s the ACFTU claimed to represent some 2.8 million workers.2

In 1925, the nationalist general Chiang Kai-shek became leader of the KMT, which at that time was based in southern China. Chiang initially cooperated with the CCP in 1926 in organizing the “Northern

China’s Worker Rights History Expedition” to extend the area launched in March as the Nationalist Manchuria), and set up a puppet 6 controlled by the KMT and to elim- Revolutionary Army entered Shang- government. At that time, the CCP 3

CHAPTER 1 inate the warlords. Although the hai. In April, the KMT broke its controlled a very small area in 6 Northern Expedition campaign united front with the CCP and southern China, and the KMT was won many battles, the most powerful attacked the CCP-led strikers. After occupied with its efforts to suppress warlords, such as Zhang Xueliang the Shanghai strike was suppressed, the “communist bandits.” The CCP in the Northeast, retained regional the CCP launched “insurrections” in escaped from the KMT encirclement sway. The KMT government negoti- Canton and Changsha. These were and, from 1934 to 1936, undertook ated with the strongest warlords, quickly defeated, forcing the CCP the “Long March” from southern winning their recognition of the and its sympathizers to flee the China to the northern Shaanxi central government in Nanjing in urban centers and retreat to isolated Province. There the CCP set up a exchange for allowing them to keep rural mountain strongholds in the base at Yenan and called on the their own armed forces and giving Hunan-Jiangxi border region. KMT to join in a campaign to resist them high positions in the Nanjing the Japanese. In 1936, former government. Zhang Xueliang, for Efforts to build an urban labor move- warlord Zhang Xueliang, whose example, was appointed vice com- ment faltered under Nationalist rule military forces had been driven out mander-in-chief of the military after for about 20 years. Communist by the Japanese from Manchuria he openly supported Chiang’s effort labor organizers captured in KMT- in 1931 and who was frustrated to unify the country. The KMT was controlled cities were imprisoned with Chiang’s failure to prevent the official ruling party from 1927 to or executed. The KMT made some the loss of Manchuria, took Chiang 1949. However, unity became elusive, attempts to educate the peasantry, hostage in the “Xi’an Incident” and as the initial collaboration between provide public health service, encour- forced him to accept a truce with the the KMT and the CCP began to age scientific improvements, and CCP in order to fight the Japanese. unravel, and tensions between the build roads and lines for telecommu- During the bitter eight-year war parties continued to grow. nications. It even passed some worker with the Japanese, beginning in rights legislation. However, these 1937, the KMT undertook little In February 1927, Shanghai labor efforts failed to bring widespread further reform. leaders called a general strike in prosperity or stability. The country- support of the Northern Expedition. side was ruled by corrupt landed The need for change, heightened by The strike brought Shanghai to a gentry who opposed any real reform, the tensions between urban and standstill for two days. Although the and the KMT could not or would rural China, served to strengthen the warlords and colonial forces in the not challenge them. CCP as the KMT became increas- foreign settlement areas eventually ingly corrupt. In 1945, an economic broke the strike, worker morale was The Japanese invaded in 1931, crisis caused inflation so severe that strong, and a second strike was took the Northeast (then called thousands of industrial workers went

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I out on strike following the end of In its early years, Mao’s new government executed at least hundreds the war. In 1946, more than 1,700 of thousands, and more likely millions, of landlords and accused 7 strikes and other labor disputes counterrevolutionaries. CHAPTER 1 occurred in Shanghai alone.4

Communists in Power olutionaries. An attack on intellec- to eliminate critics of Maoist poli- tuals in a 1957 “anti-rightist” cam- cies, both within and outside the At the end of World War II, the paign stigmatized China’s educated party. In June 1966, the government growing tensions between the CCP elite and set back economic and closed the schools and devoted and the KMT erupted into a civil technological progress. Then, in student time to “political” activities. war for control of China. In 1949, 1958, Mao implemented the even Radical students calling themselves supported by peasants and urban more ambitious, and correspondingly “Red Guards” sought to destroy workers, superior military strategy disastrous, “Great Leap Forward” anything foreign or old; humiliated and tactics, and the unpopularity of (GLF). The GLF intended to and removed teachers, scientists, the corrupt KMT government, modernize the country by setting up “deviationist” thinkers, and others communist forces under leader Mao backyard steel furnaces to double who did not exhibit sufficient Zedong won the civil war and estab- steel production, and the government zeal for the Cultural Revolution; lished the People’s Republic of recruited millions of peasants to work and seized power from those who China (PRC). The CCP victory in the newly created urban industries. were said to be “taking the capitalist allowed for the creation of a strong Tragically, the government’s decision road,” including CCP Secretary central government to rule a unified to take away the peasants’ suppos- Deng Xiaoping and PRC President country.5 The new state sought to edly “surplus” agricultural products Liu Shaoqi. During the first three cement support from workers and induced the largest man-made years of the Cultural Revolution, peasants by redistributing land and famine in human history, causing the ACFTU, like other party insti- limiting the influence of landlords, an estimated 30 to 40 million deaths tutions, was attacked and paralyzed, capitalists, and foreigners. To achieve between 1959 and 1961. When and workers’ conditions deterio- its ends, the CCP chose to follow the the GLF failed, most of the new rated. Ultimately, the Cultural Soviet economic model: state owner- recruits, along with some urban Revolution’s absolutist approach ship, central planning, and rapid workers, were dismissed and sent resulted in tragic and unnecessary industrialization. back to their home villages, becom- losses for China—the experience ing part of the biggest one-time and knowledge of its older people In its early years, Mao’s new govern- mass layoff in Chinese history.6 and the educated class, as well as ment executed at least hundreds of significant educational opportunity thousands, and more likely millions, For a decade, beginning in 1966, and progress for its youth. of landlords and accused counterrev- the “Cultural Revolution” attempted

China’s Worker Rights History Following this period, large state- and some of the most important tar- introducing capitalist free market 8 owned enterprises (SOEs), many of gets of criticism were soon returned economic policies.

CHAPTER 1 which had begun in the KMT era to positions of power. During the and expanded during the 1950s late 1970s, an economic reform Deng’s goals included “Four Mo- through nationalization and recon- movement emerged under Deng dernizations” in Agriculture, In- struction, produced three-fourths Xiaoping, who pursued economic dustry, Science and Technology, and of China’s industrial output. The development through what he called Defense. For example, under the government set up a strict hierarchy a Chinese form of “market socialism.” “production responsibility system,” among workers. SOE workers, This initiative aimed at maintaining based on a reform originally devised drawn from the skilled and privi- the CCP’s political control while by peasants in Anhui Province, leged two-fifths of the urban workforce, were kept quiescent through benefits such as housing, medical care, subsidized meals, bonuses, government subsidies, lifetime pensions, and welfare and state insurance arrangements. Below the SOE workers were workers in collective enterprises, and at the bottom were “temporary workers.”7 Urban residents were much more privileged than their rural counterparts. Migration from rural to urban areas was virtually impossible.

“Market Socialism” and Economic Growth

Following Mao’s death in September 1976, the remaining leaders—including Mao’s wife and three aides labeled the “Gang of Four”—were arrested and deposed within a few weeks. The excesses of the Cultural Revolution had caused widespread revulsion,

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I contracts between the production Although some experiments with direct union elections have been team and the individual household tested during the past few years, for the most part the ACFTU is 9

provided more incentives to the indi- CHAPTER 1 run from CCP headquarters. vidual farm family. Deng also encouraged foreign investors, joint ventures, and manufacturers to set up shop in This incident and many others that ACFTU in December 2002, is a China and produce goods for export led up to the Tiananmen Square leader in the CCP, as were his to developed country markets. His protest and massacre of 1989 predecessors. Another influential policies brought dramatic macroeco- demonstrated that dynamic eco- ACFTU leader is Zhang Junjiu, nomic results. Starting in 1978, the nomic growth had failed to generate also a major party boss. economy grew at a remarkable average corresponding political openness rate of 9 percent a year, matched in in China. Nevertheless, the 1989 As part of its stabilization program 2003 by 9.1 percent growth. Growth Tiananmen Square democracy in the post-Mao period, the govern- tripled average incomes by the early movement remains a defining point ment reestablished the ACFTU as 1990s and raised 200 million peas- for the country. It also marks the the single federation of all local ants out of abject poverty.8 first time (post-revolution) that trade union councils and national workers sought to form independent industrial trade unions. It is struc- Along with economic growth came worker organizations. tured on a combination of geo- the demand for more political graphic and industrial lines. By law, freedom, reflected in the Democracy ACFTU Today every factory must contribute to the Wall movement of the late 1970s union fund an amount equal to 2 and even larger mobilizations in the The ACFTU is still an integral part percent of its total wage expenditure, late 1980s.9 For workers, a key moti- of the state and CCP structures. but many employers fail to comply. vation was eliminating CCP corrup- Most full-time union representatives The funds are largely controlled by tion, which had allowed party leaders have not come from workers’ ranks, the local ACFTU offices. and their families to profit from but rather rose through the CCP insider deals as state enterprises were and were assigned to the ACFTU. On paper, the ACFTU is the largest sold. Wei Jingsheng, a leading figure Although some experiments with national labor organization in the among Chinese worker dissidents direct union elections have been world, with more than 100 million of the period, challenged Deng’s tested during the past few years, for members and some 500,000 full- government to adopt a “Fifth Mod- the most part the ACFTU is run time union staff. The consensus is ernization”—democracy. In 1981, from CCP headquarters, whether at that these numbers are grossly in- the government responded to his the municipal, provincial, or flated and that in many workplaces recommendation by placing him in national level. Wang Zhaoguo, where the ACFTU claims member- prison for almost two decades. who was appointed head of the ship, workers are unaware of the

China’s Worker Rights History I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I presence of an ACFTU branch. China’s extraordinary growth in production and assembly has 10 One researcher cited a 2002 organiza- taken place in an environment where workers have had little or

CHAPTER 1 tion audit, conducted by the Shaanxi Provincial Federation, showing that no access to power. only 22 percent of the local unions registered in workplaces in the pro- Although it is controlled by the women of Hong Kong in an atmos- vince actually existed.10 The ACFTU CCP, the ACFTU has a weak phere starkly lacking in basic labor tends to be present in what remains bureaucracy whose function depends protections, where a legal vacuum of SOEs and in enterprises owned greatly on the local party structure undercuts workers’ rights to organize or co-owned by regional and local and those who run it. and bargain collectively. governments that deem it opportune to maintain the ACFTU as a labor Today, Chinese workers do not Today, the future of democratic rights control mechanism. ACFTU pres- unquestioningly accept the trans- in Hong Kong remains in jeopardy. ence in private and foreign-owned mission belt model of CCP control In July 2003, more than 500,000 enterprises is generally low. over trade unions. Some workers Hong Kong citizens marched in the seek new forms of independent streets to protest a proposed security The Chinese government keeps organization and action inside and bill aimed at restricting freedom of tight rein on the ACFTU and its outside the ACFTU, even in the assembly and freedom of expression. activities. China’s official labor face of government repression. The huge turnout helped pressure movement is based on a one-way Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung “transmission belt” model, where the Hong Kong Confederation Cheehwa to announce the bill’s unions’ role is one of conveying of Trade Unions deferral, but the Beijing government government policies to workers and vowed to return later and pass an promoting labor discipline to imple- The largest independent trade union alternate version of this law. The ment those policies, as opposed to movement in China is the Hong following year, claiming that Hong representing workers in dealings Kong Confederation of Trade Unions Kong was still not ready for democ- with employers and the government. (HKCTU). The HKCTU, one of the racy, Beijing ruled out the use of But the future of the labor move- most progressive labor movements direct elections to select Hong ment in China is still in flux. Just as in all of Asia, has been at the fore- Kong’s next chief executive in 2007 the CCP has factions, so does the front of the struggle to defend Hong and all of its legislators in 2008; the ACFTU. Some within the ACFTU Kong autonomy (one country/two government has set no timetable for would like to see the organization systems) and to advance Hong Kong political reform.11 move toward a more progressive democracy, the rule of law, and re- position that creates space for work- spect for human and worker rights. On July 1, 2004, despite attacks on place policy and labor law reforms. It is a voice for the working men and newspapers and media, thinly veiled

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA threats that a march could produce A Global Giant Kong) increased from $46.8 billion violence, and a disinformation cam- in 2000 to $71.3 billion in 2003. 11

paign aimed at discouraging turnout, By many measures, China now has In early 2004, the largest source CHAPTER 1 more than one-half million Hong the world’s second largest economy of investment in China was Hong Kong citizens declared again with after the United States. Although Kong, followed by investment from their feet their intention to press for some analysts think that China’s the Virgin Islands.13 continued democratization and growth trend will continue, others reform. In September 2004 elections, believe that China’s rapid expansion China’s extraordinary growth in close to two-thirds of a record 1.7 cannot be sustained and, if it falters production and assembly has taken million voters chose pro-democracy quickly and deeply, a global economic place in an environment where candidates. Despite winning the recession could result.12 workers have had little or no access popular majority, however, the to power. It has been accompanied democrats will hold only 25 of 60 Regardless of the debate over the by corruption, pollution, wage and seats. Thirty seats went to candidates impact of China’s growth, almost all social inequalities, unemployment, chosen by business and professional observers agree that the scale of precarious work, and labor exploita- groups mostly controlled by Beijing, China’s industrialization is affecting tion reminiscent of the worst features while electoral rules gave other seats more people at once than any compa- of the Industrial Revolution in the to pro-government candidates who rable wave of factory production in West. One dramatic reflection of the finished behind the democrats. Even history. Since 1990, China’s manufac- downside of unregulated growth is though the democrats are entering turing production has increased by the volume of workplace injuries and office with a popular mandate for more than 400 percent. In 2003 deaths. In 2002, workplace accidents change, they have no clear way of alone, China’s total exports rose by 35 reportedly caused 140,000 deaths in legislating it. percent. China is the world’s biggest China, 250,000 workers lost body supplier of consumer electronics, parts and suffered other injuries, and The HKCTU was key to the success computer hardware, and steel. nearly 400,000 workers died from of both the 2003 and the 2004 Chinese factories turn out 30 the cumulative effects of workplace protests, enlisting the help of tens of percent of the world’s air condi- illness. In Shenzhen alone, official thousands of its union members to tioners and televisions, 40 percent of statistics indicate that an average of provide volunteers and training and the world’s mobile phones, half of 31 workers per day were disabled to participate in the rally. Because the world’s cameras, and half of its last year and that a worker died at the HKCTU has also been involved shoes. In 2003, Chinese workers work every 4.5 days. Between in the movement to promote worker assembled 40 percent of all laptops January and September 2004, offi- rights and democracy throughout (after making none only three years cial statistics cite 609,429 work- the mainland, it is a target of the earlier). Foreign direct investment related accidents with a death toll of Beijing government. (FDI) to China (including Hong 98,809 workers.14

China’s Worker Rights History Throughout China, 160 million surplus laborers in rural areas have for export back to their countries of 12 workers face hazardous working migrated to urban industrial centers. origin. Smaller companies are also

CHAPTER 1 conditions, but only a third are able to Most do not have permanent resi- investing in China, and most com- get regular medical checkups. In dency where they are employed, and panies based in Hong Kong and Guangdong Province, one of China’s they bear the brunt of worker rights Taiwan employ significant numbers most rapidly industrializing areas, violations. Migrant workers, the vast of Chinese workers. Many non- more than half the factories have majority of whom are women, are manufacturing multinational compa- never been examined for occupational at the bottom of the social and nies such as Wal-Mart have also safety and health violations. Of the economic ladder. These workers begun operations in China. In addi- inspected worksites, 96 percent have produce the bulk of export goods. tion, China has spawned a growing been found to have such violations. number of multinationals of its Occupational safety and health stan- Today, approximately 160 million own—such as Petro-China—that are dards written by the central govern- workers are employed in formal becoming key players in the interna- ment are not even communicated sector companies divided into differ- tional economy. to regulatory agencies, so they cannot ent types of firms: SOEs, privately be enforced.15 invested enterprises, foreign-invested China today faces both global enterprises, joint ventures, urban opportunities and challenges on a Most of China’s nearly 800 million collectives and cooperatives, and scale that reflects its great size. Its laborers still work in rural agricul- township and village enterprises.17 political, economic, and social ture, but tens of millions leave rural Another 100 million workers are conditions are extremely complex, areas each year to find work in cities, employed in other non-agricultural and the country carries enormous in industry, and in rapidly growing jobs in urban areas. burdens and problems. It also has a export factories in special economic labor force of almost 800 million zones (SEZs, China’s equivalent of Major multinational corporations workers who want to help resolve export processing zones, or EPZs) based in nearby Asian countries and those problems and take part in in coastal areas.16 Beginning in the in the United States, Canada, and building their society. They can only mid-1980s, the government lifted its Europe have set up extensive opera- do so once they are allowed to ban on free travel by rural laborers. tions inside China, producing for develop an independent voice— Since then, 150 to 200 million the Chinese domestic market and a goal that remains elusive.

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Endnotes 13

1 Hong Kong was ceded to the British, Macao went to the Portuguese, and other territories called “concessions” went to Germany, CHAPTER 1 France, and Russia. Among the rights that China ceded to the “Great Powers” were the right to collect and keep customs duties; the right for citizens to be tried by special international courts rather than Chinese courts for offenses committed in China; the right to build and operate railways, mines, and other enterprises; and the right to protect these structures with their own armed forces.

2 See S. Bernard Thomas, Labor and the Chinese Revolution: Class Strategies and Contradictions of Chinese Communism, 1928-48 (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies at The University of Michigan, 1983), pp. 1-2.

3 See Jonathan D. Spence, The Search for Modern China (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1990), pp. 349-350.

4 See John King Fairbank, China: A New History (Boston: Harvard University Press, 1994), pp. 299-301; Jonathan D. Spence, note 3 above, pp. 498-499.

5 With the exception of Taiwan, the then-British colony of Hong Kong, and the Portuguese colony of Macao.

6 The Chinese government never provided official figures for the death toll. However, numerous officials and scholars have commented on the vast losses. For example, Chinese National Defense University professor Cong Jin wrote: “According to the statistics, in 1959, China had a population of 672 million. In 1960, the number reduced to 662 million. The number was further reduced by 13 million in 1961. Adding the number of newborns, the total number of the population in 1961 should exceed that of 1959 by 27 million. Adding the number of deaths and of the unborn, from 1959 to 1961, the population was reduced by 40 million.” (Cong Jin, Winding Road, p. 272.) Well-known scholar Jin Hui wrote: “During the disaster between 1959 to 1961, the ‘abnormal death toll’ in China was at least 40 million.” (Jin Hui, “Memo on the ‘Three-Year Natural Disaster,’” Society magazine, 1993.) CCP Party History Institute Deputy Director He Liao Gaolong wrote that the death toll during that three-year period was 40 million. (See Yuanhuang Chunqiu, No. 3, March 2000.) The mass layoff had an extremely adverse impact on Chinese workers from rural areas. Millions of people not only lost their jobs, but also were “deported” to their villages, where there was no job market.

7 See John King Fairbank, note 4 above, pp. 374-375. Temporary workers worked in every sector. Most were actually permanent employees who nevertheless held a “temporary” official status.

8 Ibid., pp. 409-413; see also Gordon White, Riding the Tiger: The Politics of Economic Reform in Post-Mao China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993), pp. 9-11; Asian Development Bank, Annual Report for 2003, 2004.

9 During the winter months of 1978-1979, thousands of people in Beijing posted complaints and protests about China’s ills on a stretch of blank wall on Chang’an Avenue, to the west of the former Forbidden City. This became known as “Democracy Wall.” After initially toler- ating the protests, the Chinese government cracked down, arresting and imprisoning the movement’s most prominent leaders. For more information, see Andrew J. Nathan, Chinese Democracy (Berkeley: University of California Press), 1986.

10 See Guan Ming, “Investigation and Thoughts on Union Organization,” Gongren Ribao, February 20, 2002, cited in Trini Leung, “ACFTU and Union Organizing,” China Labour Bulletin, April 26, 2002. Available at http://www.china-labour.org.hk/iso/article.adp?article_id=2265&cate- gory_name=Official%20Union%20%2d%20ACFTU

China’s Worker Rights History 11 The commitment to increase the number of elected legislators to 100 percent was made under “basic law,” the common term for the 14 hand-over treaty from Britain to China. See Philip P. Pan, “Hong Kong Elections A Blow to Democrats,” Washington Post, September 13, 2004, p. A15; “Hong Kong’s Choice,” Editorial, Washington Post, September 14, 2004, p. A26. CHAPTER 1

12 See James Kynge, “All Eyes Are on the Economic Dynamo as the World Watches for Signs that Beijing’s Ever More Restrictive Intervention Will Succeed in Bringing Expansion Under Control Without Sending the Country Spinning from Boom to Bust,” Financial Times, May 3, 2004, p. 15.

13 See China Statistical Yearbook 2001, Table 17-4, p. 587; “China’s Total Trade Volume Hit US$851.2 billion Last Year,” People’s Daily Online at http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200401/12/eng20040112_132381.shtml; John Schmid and Rick Romell, “China’s Economic Boom Hits Home,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 28, 2003, p. 1A; UNCTAD, “Table: FDI Flows Into Major Economies, 2001, 2002, 2003” at www.unctad.org; “Order from the Leadership of the State Council: To Watch the ‘Connection (or Transition) Station’ of Escaped Capital,” 21st Century Economic Report, August 7, 2004. According to this report, the Cayman Islands ranked number eight in investment in China. The unusually high degree of investment coming from the Caribbean region has prompted the Chinese authorities to open an investigation into “escaped capital” and the possibility of the involvement of corruption money in foreign direct investment.

14 See Patricia Buckley Ebrey, The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 321-325. Official statistics on workplace accidents are combined with statistics on work-related traffic accidents, making it difficult to establish the number restricted to worksite safety or health issues. See Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Statement of Mil Niepold (April 28, 2003); Joseph Kahn, “Making Trinkets in China, and a Deadly Dust,” New York Times, June 18, 2003, p. A1; http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2004-10-21/10293990219s.shtml

15 See Tim Pringle and Stephen D. Frost, “The Absence of Rigor and the Failure of Implementation: Occupational Health and Safety in China,” International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, Vol. 9, No. 4 (October/December 2003), p. 314.

16 This figure covers workers from all sectors, including agricultural workers.

17 People’s Republic of China, Census (2002).

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA

China and International Worker Rights Instruments 15

China has ratified four of the principal United Nations covenants on human and worker rights: CHAPTER 1 International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)

However, upon ratifying the ICESCR in 2001, China took the following “reservation” seeking to exempt itself from the covenant’s obligations on freedom of association for workers: The application of Article 8(1)(a) [on workers’ freedom of association] of the Covenant to the People’s Republic of China shall be consistent with the relevant provisions of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, Trade Union Law of the People’s Republic of China and Labor Law of the People’s Republic of China.

China has signed but not ratified the following principal UN covenant: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

China has ratified three of the ILO’s fundamental conventions reflected in the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work: Convention No. 100 on Equal Remuneration Convention No. 138 on the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor

China has not ratified five of the ILO’s fundamental conventions: Convention No. 29 on Forced Labor Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention No. 98 on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention No. 105 on the Abolition of Forced Labor Convention No. 111 on Discrimination (Employment and Occupation)

China’s Worker Rights History CHAPTER 2

Freedom of Association, Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

verall, China has ratified Like other countries that have not rati- exempt it from the obligation to 16 23 International Labor fied one or both of these conventions guarantee workers’ freedom to form CHAPTER 2 OOrganization (ILO) con- (including the United States, Brazil, and join trade unions of their own ventions. Before 1949, the KMT India, and Mexico), China is obliged choosing (see China and International government ratified 14 conventions. to comply with the principles of Worker Rights Instruments). How- In 1983, China announced its recog- freedom of association by virtue of ever, China’s labor laws directly violate nition of these 14 ratifications but membership in the ILO. Moreover, the the treaty obligations. In particular, a revoked 23 that had been ratified by ILO’s 1998 Declaration on Funda- clause in China’s 2001 Trade Union the Taiwanese (Republic of China) mental Principles and Rights at Work Law declaring the ACFTU to be the government. By the end of Sep- says that “all members, even if they only union organization allowed to tember 2003, China had ratified have not ratified the Conventions in exist in China rules out independent another nine conventions. Some question, have an obligation . . . to organization. This clause violates the ACFTU leaders are now calling respect, to promote, and to realize . . . core of Article 8(1)(a), which ensures on the government to ratify more the principles concerning the funda- “the right of everyone to form trade conventions. mental rights which are the subject of unions and join the trade union of those Conventions. . . .” Conventions his choice, subject only to the rules However, China has not yet ratified 87 and 98 are first among the four of the organization concerned, for ILO Conventions 87 and 98, the principles cited. the promotion and protection of his core conventions on freedom of economic and social interests.” association and collective bargaining. The Chinese government signed the Since the reservation is incompatible Conventions 87 and 98 require UN International Covenant on Civil with the “object and purpose” of the countries to guarantee workers’ and Political Rights (ICCPR) on ICESCR, it is implicitly invalid, rights to freely form and join organi- October 5, 1998. It has not yet rati- and China’s obligations under the zations of their own choosing, to fied the covenant, but the Chinese ICESCR survive notwithstanding choose their leaders and representa- People’s Congress has indicated plans its reservation.1 tives, and to define their own activi- to do so in the near future. ties and goals—all independently of China’s Labor Laws government and of employers—as China has ratified the UN International well as to bargain collectively over Covenant on Economic, Social, and China’s constitution and laws provide working conditions. Cultural Rights (ICESCR), but it for trade union organization, work- asserted a “reservation” purporting to place “consultation,” elections of

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I trade union “committees,” and a role The instruction to “uphold reform and opening up” means that for unions in case of strikes. How- trade unions must support the government’s globalizing economic ever, these rights are tightly bound by ruling party command and state policies even when those policies hurt workers. control. Trade unions are not freely chosen by workers, consultation is road, uphold the people’s democratic This provision, like other 2001 revi- 17

not genuine collective bargaining, dictatorship, uphold leadership by the sions to the Trade Union Law, shows CHAPTER 2 and the right to strike is generally Communist Party of China, uphold that “neither the Party [n]or the not recognized in practice. Workers Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong government is willing to relax [its] exercise these rights at great risk to Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory, hold over the ACFTU; and even less their jobs and often to their personal uphold reform and opening up.”3 willing to allow legislative reform to security. move in a direction that would enable Contradictions abound in this formu- the union to represent workers’ inter- International human and worker lation. The instruction to “uphold ests . . . the revisions to the trade rights bodies, independent human reform and opening up” means that union law testify to the fact that the rights groups, and international trade unions must support the govern- Party is not only unwilling to weaken worker rights experts have found ment’s globalizing economic policies its hold over the unions, but even conclusively that China violates even when those policies hurt wants to strengthen it.” 4 workers’ freedom of association. First workers. This negates unions’ repre- and most obviously, China prohibits sentation role. Economic develop- Right to Organize independent union organizing. ment is not the central task of trade Under Chinese law, the only union unions. Rather, unions’ central task is The ILO’s Committee on Freedom organization allowed to exist is the to represent workers at the workplace of Association (CFA) oversees ad- ACFTU and its branches: “The All- and in the political life of a nation herence to Conventions 87 and 98, China Federation of Trade Unions to ensure that economic develop- whether or not the government shall be established as the unified ment is not based on worker concerned has ratified them. The national organization.”2 Any inde- exploitation and abuse. Through CFA has considered numerous pendent organization of workers’ collective bargaining and participa- complaints about China. own choosing is illegal. tion in democratic processes, trade unions seek to have workers share In cases concluded through 1999, the In turn, the ACFTU is organically in the gains of development, not CFA has repeatedly found that the tied to the ruling party. The Trade pay the price of development for Trade Union Law violates workers’ Union Law requires the ACFTU the benefit of ruling elites and inter- freedom of association and their to “take economic development as national investors and executives. right to form and join trade unions the central task, uphold the socialist of their own choosing. The CFA

Freedom of Association, Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively includes its China cases in a limited China.” The ICFTU noted, “Workers and includes the subordination of category called “serious and urgent.” are prevented by law from organizing Chinese trade unions to the Chinese This category is reserved for egre- outside the All-China Federation of Communist Party.” 8 gious worker rights violations and Trade Unions (ACFTU), which is signals the full weight of the ILO’s strictly controlled by the Chinese The U.S. State Department’s 18 call for accountability and reform. Communist Party.” In March 2002, Country Reports on Human Rights

CHAPTER 2 Serious and urgent cases are defined the ICFTU filed a new complaint to Practices 2003 said of workers’ as those “that involve murder or the CFA regarding “the use of repres- freedom of association in China:9 death threats, physical assaults . . . sive measures including threats, in- arrests and detentions of trade union timidation, intervention by security “The Constitution provides for leaders and members, obstruction of forces, beatings, detentions, arrests freedom of association. However, in trade union meetings and activities, and other mistreatment” against practice, workers were not free to disciplinary measures following in- worker organizers; in 2004 the CFA organize or join unions of their own dustrial action, legislation seriously dryly noted that it “is still awaiting choosing. The ACFTU, which was restricting the activities of trade observations or information from the controlled by the Communist Party unions . . . and prohibition of inde- government” in the case.7 and headed by a high-level Party pendent trade unions.”5 official, was the sole legal workers’ A 2002 Human Rights Watch report organization. The Trade Union Law The CFA has identified the ACFTU stated, “[T]he dual position of the gives the ACFTU control over the monopoly and its “transmission belt” ACFTU—as upholder of working- establishment and operation of all role as abuses that “prevented the class interests and as loyal servant to subsidiary union organizations and establishment of trade union organi- the Party—makes it impossible for activities . . . Independent unions zations that are independent of the the union to promote free association are illegal.” public authorities and of the ruling in accordance with international party, and whose mission should be standards. . . . It has not defended the Worker Organizing— to defend and promote interests of principle of independent union and Repression their constituents and not to rein- organizing, and it has never spoken Chinese workers do not docilely force the country’s political and out against laws and regulations accept the legal framework that economic system.”6 routinely employed to justify impris- allows them no independent voice. onment of labor activists who Government authorities clamp down, The International Confederation of organize outside its aegis.” Amnesty but they cannot prevent workers Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) reported International says, “Independent from rising up to demand workplace in its 2003 Annual Survey of Violations trade unions are not permitted in justice. Workers in China have a rich of Trade Union Rights that “trade China. . . . The law still upholds the history of searching for ways to union rights are not respected in existing monopoly of the ACFTU pursue their rights under repressive

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA conditions. That tradition has demon- most visible reaction. Students were workers have been imprisoned. They strated itself in recent times and the main victims, but authorities wait for the awakening of respect for continues today. decided to use deadly force when their rights, demonstrated by their they saw students and workers begin- release and compensation for them- Chinese workers face enormous risks ning to link their protests. At the selves and their families.11 when they confront abusive employers same time, authorities moved I Guo Yunqiao, leader of a newly 19

and repressive officials. Sometimes quickly and brutally to suppress formed WAF in Yueyang City, CHAPTER 2 they meet with violent force from lesser-known workers’ movements Hunan, led a protest march employer-hired thugs or from police and to victimize lesser-known against the Tiananmen massacre. breaking up assemblies, demonstra- worker organizers. Many of these He was arrested, quickly tried, and tions, and protests. Authorities often arrest, detain, and prosecute worker leaders and worker advocates. The following cases are drawn from researchers at the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin, a respected chronicler of worker rights violations in China.10

Workers’ Autonomous Federations In the democratizing movements of the late 1980s, workers in many regions organized Workers’ Auton- omous Federations (WAFs) separate from official ACFTU unions. Many analysts of the period believe that the government tolerated dissent by students, writers, intellectuals, and other groups, seeing no menace to CCP control. However, when workers began to organize independently, the government perceived a real threat. The Tian- anmen massacre of 1989 was the

Freedom of Association, Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I sentenced to death in September Xu Wangpin, arrested in 1989 for organizing an independent 1989. His death sentence was union at his factory in Sichuan, served eight years in prison. commuted in 1991 to 13 years. He was released in 2000. I Li Wangyang, an organizer of the I Wang Miaogen, a member of the Free Labor Union of China 20 Shaoyang City, Hunan, WAF, was Shanghai WAF, was arrested in In the early 1990s, even with the

CHAPTER 2 arrested in 1989 and sentenced to 1989, jailed, and released in 1992. memory of the 1989 crackdown a 13-year prison term on charges A year later he was rearrested and against WAFs still fresh and WAF of counterrevolutionary propa- forcibly committed to a psychi- leaders and activists still imprisoned, ganda and incitement. He was atric hospital for planning a pro- a new independent organizing released in June 2000 but rear- test demonstration during the current called the Free Labor Union rested a year later and sentenced Asian Games of 1993. of China (FLUC) took shape. The to ten more years for protesting I Zhang Shanguang was sentenced government responded with the his treatment in prison. His sister, to seven years’ imprisonment in same kind of repression, especially Li Wangling, was also arrested 1989 for organizing the Hunan against FLUC organizers in Beijing and sentenced to three years in WAF. He was rearrested in 1998 arrested in 1992 for counterrevolu- prison for helping to publicize and charged with “passing intelli- tionary activity. These leaders were Li’s protests. gence” outside China because he sentenced to long prison terms after I Xu Wangpin, arrested in 1989 for filed reports with foreign radio a mass trial in December 1994. organizing an independent union stations about worker protests in I Wang Guoqi was sentenced to at his factory in Sichuan, served his home county of Shupu. He 11 years in prison. Authorities eight years in prison. He was then was sentenced to ten more years suspended family visits in 1997 as rearrested for “disturbing social in prison. punishment for Wang’s failure to order” and sentenced to another I Workers Chen Gang, Liu Zhihua, memorize prison rules. He was prison term. and Peng Shi were arrested in released in 2003 but reportedly I Yao Guisheng, an activist in the June 1989 for attempting to disappeared soon afterward during Changsha WAF in Hunan, was organize a factory protest in a crackdown on dissidents. arrested in 1989 for helping other Hunan. Chen was sentenced to I Liu Jingsheng, a leader of the WAF members avoid police cap- death and the others to life terms FLUC in a Beijing chemical ture. He was sentenced to 15 for “hooliganism.” Their sentences factory, was sentenced to 15 years years in prison, where he was were later reduced, and Chen and in prison. often placed in solitary confine- Peng were released in 2004. Liu is I Kang Yuchun, a hospital re- ment for refusing to admit his scheduled for release in 2011. searcher active in the Beijing guilt. Yao suffered a mental break- FLUC, was sentenced to 17 years down from his treatment. in prison. He was released in 2003.

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA I Hu Shigen, who worked at the Hanzhong Nuclear Industry Fac- factory in Dafeng. Authorities Beijing Foreign Languages tory, began advocating for better arrested him in December 2001. Institute and became a FLUC conditions for factory workers and I Cai Guangye, a doctor and photo- leader, was sentenced to 20 years criticizing the ACFTU for failing journalist in Jilin Province, took in prison. to defend workers’ interests. He pictures and wrote essays publi- was arrested in 1998 and sen- cizing protests by workers in 21

Repression of Worker tenced to three years in prison for chemical, metalworking, paper, CHAPTER 2 Advocates “disturbing social order.” cement, and other industrial facto- Chinese authorities target workers’ I In 1998, Yue Tianxiang started a ries in Jilin. Police arrested him in supporters as much as their leaders labor newsletter called Chinese 2001 and held him for two years and activists. Journalists, lawyers, Workers’ Monitor and helped before imposing a three-year independent political activists, civil promote legal action seeking sentence in July 2003. servants, and others who devote unpaid wages for workers at the I Wang Sen and Hu Mingjun, their skills to workers rather than Tianshui Auto Transport com- leaders of the banned China to employers or the government are pany in Gansu Province. He was Democratic Party in Sichuan, especially victimized. arrested in 1999 and sentenced to publicly supported protests over I Li Bifeng, formerly an officer at ten years in prison for “subverting unpaid wages by workers at the Mianyang City Tax Bureau, state power.” Dazhou steel factory. They issued Sichuan Province, wrote an open I Xu Jian was a lawyer in Baotou statements backing independent letter in 1997 to denounce violent City, Inner Mongolia, who repre- trade union formation. Authorities police action against massive sented workers in state-owned arrested them in April and May worker protests over the state’s factories there. After a show tour 2001, respectively. First charged alleged misappropriations of of a machinery factory by Presi- with “inciting to subvert the power unemployment funds. Forced dent Jiang Zemin in 1999, Xu of the state,” which carried a maxi- into hiding, he conducted a public publicized the fact that workers mum five-year sentence, they were poll on layoffs, publicized worker had not been paid for almost convicted a year later on the more demands for reforms, and appealed six months and filed lawsuits serious charge of outright subver- to international organizations to on their behalf. He was arrested sion. Wang was sentenced to ten support the laid-off workers’ right and sentenced to four years in years in prison, and Hu received to organize. He was arrested in prison for “incitement to subvert an 11-year sentence. Wang is 1998 and sentenced on trumped- state power.” reportedly seriously ill with dia- up fraud charges to seven years I Lu Wenbin, a reporter for the betes at a prison in Nan Chong in prison. Textile Daily newspaper, docu- City, Sichuan, and not receiving 12 I Zhao Changqing, a teacher at a mented a strike and interviewed adequate care. school affiliated with the Shaanxi workers at the Huainan textile

Freedom of Association, Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively Liaoyang, Daqing, and Fushun: engineered a bankruptcy that left Workers organized mass protests. Northeast Worker Protests thousands of employees without Employees of area auto parts, elec- Workers’ fight for labor justice, in pensions, social insurance, and pay- trical equipment, steelmaking, and China as throughout the world, is ment for work performed. As precision tool factories facing similar irrepressible. Despite sustained Human Rights Watch recounted:13 problems joined Ferroalloy workers in 22 repression against independent the movement. On March 11-12,

CHAPTER 2 worker action throughout the 1990s, “The plant’s former workers trace its 2002, some 17,000 workers rallied in the beginning of the twenty-first terminal decline to alliances between protest. Police arrested four key century saw workers in China contin- Gong Shangwu, first Liaoyang Party leaders for “organizing illegal demon- uing to struggle for their rights. Secretary and later mayor and strations”: former steelworker Yao Liaoyang People’s Congress chair- Fuxin and Ferroalloy workers Xiao The most notable upsurges took person, and corrupt managers at Yunliang, Pang Qingxiang, and place in traditional industrial areas Ferroalloy who, they say, conspired Wang Zhaoming. On March 18, of the northeast, where workers were to close the factory for their own 30,000 workers from Ferroalloy and hardest hit by mass unemployment personal gain. The accusations were 20 other area factories staged an even after the economic restructuring of supported by an official legal case bigger demonstration to protest the SOEs. Instead of consulting with against six senior figures connected arrests and demand release of their workers and negotiating restruc- with the plant, one of whom was detained leaders. turing plans for a smooth transition, convicted on corruption charges. company managers often laid work- As reported in the official Liaoyang National government officials in ers off, looted their pension funds, Daily, over Rmb 5.3 million Beijing responded by ordering a defrauded them of severance pay, [$689,000] in embezzled funds, crackdown on protests and lodging and pocketed months’ worth of assets, and bribes has been recov- more serious accusations against their salaries. ered; and authorities have claimed detainees. Police used physical attacks, they are chasing another Rmb 2.9 arrests, and jailhouse beatings of Liaoyang million [$377,000]. The plant started participants to break up new, smaller For decades, the Liaoyang Ferroalloy to lose money in 1995, but, accord- protests. The arrested leaders were factory in Liaoning Province was a ing to an open letter from irate sentenced to up to seven years in source of steady employment for area workers to the governor of the prison, this time for the more serious workers. Workers helped make the province, management continued charge of “subversion,” because their foundry and metal processing firm a to issue false reports indicating net cases were publicized by advocates in successful, profitable operation with profits to justify awarding them- Hong Kong and other countries. sales in both domestic and interna- selves large bonuses.” Their trial lasted one day, and they tional markets. In 2002, government had no access to their lawyers before officials and company managers the trial.

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA The indictment handed down ignored orders to disperse, disturbed officials nabbed me outside Mr. against protest leaders gives chilling the proper work of state organs, Yao’s home. . . . I was traveling with confirmation of the government’s even blocked street traffic for a long a colleague . . . and my intrepid 9- repressive response:14 period of time, and caused a severe year-old son, and we were all taken disruption of the public order. to a nearby hotel. They let us use “During February and March 2002, the bathroom—under careful escort 23

Liaoyang Ferroalloy Factory went “They also made contact with in case we tried to break out. CHAPTER 2 legally bankrupt, and some laid-off reporters at Agence France Presse workers who did not understand [the and the Wall Street Journal in order “‘China is a country of laws,’ the situation] were dissatisfied. Defen- to pressure the government by publi- leader explained, after offering us dants Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang cizing information about their illegal cigarettes. ‘So your interviews must took advantage of these objective demonstrations and activities; thus go through State Council rules and conditions, and plotted to organize having a major influence. Foreign local officials. You must go through demonstrations and protests. On media covered this event extensively the procedures for this to be legal. March 11, defendants Yao Fuxin, through the Internet and exagger- So interviews now are impossible. Xiao Yunliang and others, without ated the facts of the situation, But you are welcome to come back applying for permits, organized some creating a despicable impression. to Liaoyang any time as a tourist.’ workers of the Liaoyang Ferroalloy Factory to carry out illegal assembly, “Defendants Yao Fuxin and Xiao “‘Well, then,’ I suggested, ‘I’ll go and demonstration and protests, [thus] Yunliang were caught by the Public talk to Yao Fuxin’s family about the seriously disturbing functions of state Security office and brought to local tourist spots.’ organs. In front of the main entrance justice.” of the city government [compound], “They didn’t even crack a smile. the two defendants also gave inflam- In late 2003, Yao and Xiao were Instead, they put one goon in my matory speeches. transferred from Jinzhou prison to a taxi and sent another carload to penal colony near the Mongolian escort us to the Shenyang airport “Despite being reprimanded by the border notorious for harsh conditions and wait there until we boarded a Public Security office, on March 12 and treatment. The prison’s remote plane to Shanghai. My son was Yao and Xiao organized another location meant a daylong trip for tailed in the airport as he went to illegal assembly, demonstration and visiting family members. A U.S. get an ice cream.” protest. On March 18, 19, and 20 reporter seeking to interview Yao’s respectively, Xiao Yunliang, Pang wife about his condition recounted:15 In April 2004 the ILO’s CFA Qingxiang, and others again organ- rebuked Chinese authorities for their ized illegal assemblies, demonstra- “The wives are apparently kept under repression of the Liaoyang protest tions and protests. Moreover, they some kind of house arrest. . . .Three leaders. The CFA couched its con-

Freedom of Association, Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I clusions in diplomatic language, but In newly privatized enterprises, company managers and corrupt 16 its import was unmistakable: government officials conspired to sell themselves the firms at “The Committee deplores . . . that artificially low prices, then robbed pension and benefit funds the events in connection with the to pay themselves while laying off thousands of workers. 24 dispute were related to the bank-

CHAPTER 2 ruptcy of the factory and its conse- resources fueled national industry “snatch” arrests of anyone who ap- quences on the workers, yet Yao and gave work and good wages to a peared to speak or direct activities. Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang were quarter-million employees. According to Amnesty International, charged with and sentenced for “several injuries were reported on 19 subversion. . . . The most specific A shift in 2000 to private ownership March when paramilitary clashed information provided by the govern- under Petro-China, with listing on with the demonstrators.”17 For several ment refers to the creation of distur- the Hong Kong and New York stock weeks afterward, protests continued bances, fabrication of rumors . .. exchanges, brought restructuring in a similar pattern—decentralized, disturbing the normal working and layoffs of tens of thousands of anonymous organization by workers order of the [city government], and workers. As in Liaoyang, however, met with physical violence and deten- causing a traffic jam. . . . The Com- government officials and company tions by authorities. mittee cannot comprehend how managers refused to consult with such vague and general accusations workers and negotiate a transition and Fushun can lead to the conviction of such a restructuring plan that took workers’ Fushun is a major coal mining center serious crime as subversion. . . . concerns into account. Instead of in Liaoying Province in the northeast. The Committee deeply regrets the defending employees, the official China’s coal industry was another government’s disregard for essen- ACFTU union—headed mostly by pillar of its industrial development in tially all of its previous recommen- managers—backed company moves. the last half of the twentieth century. dations in this very serious case and The industry is still notorious for its perseverance in the punishment Petro-China reneged on promises to hazardous conditions and thousands of acts related to labor conflict with maintain social insurance for laid- of worker fatalities each year. Esti- lengthy terms of imprisonment for off workers and to pay heating mates of coal miner deaths vary acts of subversion on the basis of allowances, an important benefit in between 10,000 and 40,000 annually, general and vague accusations.” the long winter. In early March 2002, but even the official statistic of 10,000 thousands of workers took to the fatalities accounts for two-thirds of the Daqing streets to protest their treatment. world’s mining fatalities.18 The Daqing oil fields became a Protest organizing was decentralized, center of China’s economic develop- without named individuals in public The coal industry reached a crisis of ment in the late 1950s. Vast oil leadership roles, so police made overproduction in the late 1990s,

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA leading to mass layoffs. In Fushun, Victimized workers who organized I In September 2003, hundreds of more than 300,000 coal miners lost demonstrations met the same pattern workers at the Liangshan steel their jobs. As in the Ferroalloy and of response seen in the Northeast factory in Sichuan protested layoff Petro-China cases, company man- movement a year earlier. Authorities terms that company managers and agers threw the workers aside with arrested and imprisoned worker city officials had drawn up without minimal severance pay and social leaders and advocates and used police consultation or negotiation with 25

insurance. to crush the protests: employees. Authorities sent riot CHAPTER 2 I In early 2003, workers at the Tieshu police to break up the demonstra- In March 2002, thousands of textile factory in Suizhou, Hubei, tions. More than 100 protesters workers launched protests. To avoid who had been left with slashed were detained, and many were held arrest, protest organizers publicized pension funds and worthless com- for weeks without charges until the action by placing posters around pany shares, mounted mass demon- protests dissipated. the city during the night. Fushun strations at factory gates to protest I In November 2003, workers at the officials distributed cash bribes to the company’s refusal to hold Xiangyang auto parts company in protesters and deployed police to genuine negotiations over effects Xiangfan City, Hebei, protested arrest those who would not give up.19 of layoffs. Police responded with a privatization plans—announced door-to-door hunt for protest with no consultation or negotiation Protests Continue leaders and arrested nine workers with genuine workers’ representa- Throughout 2003, workers’ assemblies identified as protest organizers. tives—that left thousands unem- and protests continued. In many cases, Tried in April 2004 for “disturbing ployed. At the same time, because the same abuses sparked their actions. public order,” the nine await company-provided housing was SOEs laid off massive numbers of sentencing. also being privatized, workers faced workers in the name of global compet- I In March 2003, workers at the steep rent increases. Police de- itiveness. Managers and union leaders newly privatized Liangshan paint tained ten leaders of the movement imposed layoff terms on employees, factory in Shandong Province and released their names publicly, often cutting their severance pay and protested pay cuts and layoffs. creating a de facto blacklist of pension plans without consultation or Management of the private firm workers who can now be shunned negotiation with genuine workers’ that had taken over the plant, the as “troublemakers” by all area representatives. In newly privatized Liantian Chemical Engineering employers. enterprises, company managers and company, brought in armed thugs, corrupt government officials conspired who hauled away and beat three One Worker’s Lost Voice to sell themselves the firms at artifi- worker leaders: Jing Yongqiang, Cao Maobing worked at the Funing cially low prices, then robbed pension Tian Junfeng, and Hou Zhaohua. County silk mill in Yancheng, Jiangsu and benefit funds to pay themselves They broke Hou’s wrists in the Province. He organized an inde- while laying off thousands of workers. beating. pendent trade union in 2000, when

Freedom of Association, Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively the ACFTU branch did nothing from collective “consultation,” not tive contract through representatives about corruption, failure to pay sever- collective bargaining. The law of their choosing, and to ratify the ance and pensions to laid-off workers, mostly reflects the myth that under agreement in a representative or unpaid wages, and other abuses. As socialism—now called market social- general assembly.21 This provision Cao told foreign reporters, “The ism—workers and employers have does not measure up to standards of 26 factory does have a union, but it exists no differences. Instead, they must freedom of association. However,

CHAPTER 2 in name only. The current union takes sit on the same side of a “consulta- while not going far enough, it may no responsibility for the workers. . . . tion” table. nevertheless represent a small, prac- So we told them we’ll set up a trade tical opening for some workers to union ourselves. Whether the trade China’s Trade Union Law compels undertake bargaining with their union is independent or not, or whose unions to make economic develop- employers independent of the administration it comes under, is not ment their central task and to serve ACFTU and democratically adopt important. What is important is that as a worker control mechanism for collective bargaining agreements. it is elected by the workers them- meeting development goals. In selves, and it acts on their behalf.”20 contrast to this hands-on approach The reality is that the majority of toward union control, the govern- workers in China are not allowed to For his actions and his statements, ment’s policy toward companies is engage in genuine collective bargain- Cao was arrested in December hands-off, letting them find the ing or be represented by leaders of 2000. He was forcibly committed fastest way to profitability and their own choosing. In a March 2003 to a psychiatric hospital, where he growth without regard for worker radio interview, a woman worker endured drug therapy and repeated rights. This combination transforms at the Kang En paper factory in electric shock treatments for what unions into representatives of manage- Sichuang County, Zhejiang, said of authorities deemed “obsessive-com- ment toward workers rather than the state-owned company’s stock pulsive disorder.” He was released representatives of workers toward ownership scheme for workers:22 after several months, when workers’ management. protests had faded. Authorities dis- “Before we felt we all had rights as a connected his phone, and Cao left The law does not recognize that collective, whereas now it’s all down the city. workers and employers can have to the individual. And I don’t mean contending interests to be negotiated us workers. I mean a few individual Right to Bargain Collectively and compromised through arms- officials. . . . The shares get divided length, independent bargaining. up among the bosses, they grab China’s labor laws call for “collective However, under Article 33 of the them. . . . We don’t have the same contracts” in workplaces with trade labor law, in factories without a union, status as before. We no longer feel unions (always ACFTU affiliated) workers have the right to reach agree- it’s our enterprise. In the old days but define such contracts as resulting ment with their employer on a collec- we were seen as ‘masters of the

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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I enterprise,’ but now everything’s One employer said that trade unions are “just a branch of down to the say-so of a few people. management” whose role is not so much to represent workers as That’s the difference. It’s like we’re just hired hands.” to explain to workers why the company cannot increase their wages or why layoffs will help the company. Asked whether the trade union was 27

any help, she replied, “Not that I Independent scholars who have the director face to face . . . if this CHAPTER 2 can see. . . . It’s pretty much a mirage. studied the consultation system on factory was bankrupt, the workers . . . [Management] chooses the the ground report that it “encourages would lose their rice bowls . . . chairperson.” identification of the trade union Whether or not there will be raising with management’s priorities.” The of wages will finally be determined Company management normally researchers explain:25 by the director. Concerning the appoints top union representatives. issue of reducing staffing, what we Most elections, if they are held at all, “It is not so much that the trade can do is to do ideological work are rubber-stamping exercises. Full- union is subordinated to manage- with the workers . . . letting them time union officials get senior man- ment as that the trade union is an know . . . if they have bad job agement salaries and sit on boards of integral part of the management performance, they will run the risk directors or supervisory boards of apparatus . . . . For most trade union of being made unemployed.” companies. They regard themselves cadres at the workplace, the idea of as members of the senior manage- representing and protecting the Many union officials are either true ment team. legitimate rights and interests of managers or CCP cadres who come their members in opposition to from management jobs or party ranks. Ning Jiaxin, a worker at a Velcro the employer is something that According to a survey in Zhejiang factory in Tangxia, told a reporter, is unfamiliar, if not entirely alien, Province, more than 75 percent of “I don’t remember who the union to their traditional practice and to union leaders came from those two chairman is. It might be the boss their traditional conception of their sources, while only 11 percent came himself, or the deputy general role, which is to serve the interests from worker ranks.27 manager, his younger brother.”23 of the enterprise.” One officer of the Chinese employ- Dou Xiandong, a welder at a steel- An ACFTU union representative ers’ federation told researchers that making factory in Tangxia, said, told a researcher:26 trade unions are “just a branch of “The union belongs to the boss. He management” whose role is not so appointed the union chairman. Most “When workers complained that much to represent workers as to of the bosses in private enterprises their wages were too low, we explain to workers why the company appoint their own union chairmen.” 24 couldn’t negotiate this issue with cannot increase their wages or why

Freedom of Association, Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively layoffs will help the company. As that prohibited workers from ap- the Taiwanese-owned Pan-America another research group put it, pealing to upper level ACFTU offi- Plastic Cement and Glass Fiber “Chinese unions function more as cials: “Workers will be deducted 200 Company in Dongguan, 200 an offshoot of the HR department, Rmb if they appeal once, 400 if they employees chose 36-year-old Wang and are primarily concerned with appeal twice.”30 Zhaoming and two co-workers, 28 supporting managerial interests.”28 Zhang Junfeng and Yuan Qing, to

CHAPTER 2 When workers step forward as seek unpaid overtime from the com- The agreements and practices that genuine representatives of their pany. After the representatives raised result from the consultation system colleagues in dealing with manage- the workers’ demand at an August are perversions of rights to collective ment, consequences can be dire. At 2002 meeting, management demoted representation and bargaining. In a case reported in the Workers Daily, a Hong Kong-based company with an apparel factory in Chengdu adver- tised to recruit a trade union chairperson from outside the factory after plant management was unhappy with workers’ choice of a chairperson.29

Most workers take shop floor problems to supervisors, not to union representatives. One company went so far as to fine workers who sought help from the union instead of going to management. In June 2003, Xiong Zhengsheng, Wu Sheng, and Wang Zhengquan, who worked at the Feng Cheng Electric Power Company in Feng Cheng City, Jiangxi Province, appealed to the city’s ACFTU for assistance in a dispute with their employer. Management responded by deducting 200 Rmb [about $26] from the workers’ monthly salaries and issuing a company regulation

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA the three from technicians to janitors Province, the company allowed the in the consultation committee. In and cut their pay. When they ap- direct election of union leaders another enterprise, a senior financial pealed to authorities, the company because foreign buyers exerted pres- manager participated on the trade fired them. sure to improve worker rights condi- union side in an advisory capacity. tions. The signed union contract At the same time, the trade union In October 2002, electrician Chen prevented the company from firing President, as a member of the Board 29

Zhihong appeared as a witness for the union leaders and provided workers of Directors or Supervisory Board, CHAPTER 2 three leaders in an arbitration case. with new benefits. The Hangzhou usually participates in the formula- The company fired him. When he Daily reported that such elections are tion of management’s response to came to the plant to question his being conducted in 310 enterprises the trade union proposals for the dismissal, company security guards in Yuhang District, which is the collective contract. This is an indi- beat him and threw him out. Thirty- industrial section of Hangzhou City, cation of the extent to which neither nine workers signed a letter protesting including 70 percent of its private the trade union nor the employer management’s actions. The company enterprises.32 distinguish[es] the trade union’s role dismissed them and circulated their as representative of the employees names to all the firms in the region on However, most researchers have not from its role as representative of the a blacklist, labeling them as “trouble- found cases where members’ enterprise.” makers” who should not be hired.31 proposals have been solicited or the ACFTU has submitted drafts of Zhen Yinbing, an ACFTU union “Bargaining” on One Side union proposals to members for their chairman at a Tangxia steel factory, of the Table approval before making proposals to described his role this way: “Who do Traditional collective bargaining management. Even more startling is I represent? Both the boss and the almost never takes place, although the complete blending of labor and workers. If I speak at a meeting,I’ll some experiments have been con- management at the consultation say, ‘First, on behalf of the general ducted in the southern part of China table. Researchers reported:33 manager . . .’ and then I’ll say, with union elections and collective ‘Second, on behalf of the union . . . .’ bargaining. Chinese press reports “We found no cases of conflict I know it’s hard to understand, but indicate that on rare occasions, grass- between trade unions and manage- it’s the truth.” 34 roots ACFTU leaders, especially the ment in the process of collective few who have been elected, have consultation. . . . In some enterprises Most collective agreements consist of solicited proposals from their senior members of management nothing more than a promise by constituencies. For example, at the actually participated in the negotia- management to pay the legal mini- Hangzhou ARCA Industrial Co., tions on the trade union side. In one mum wage and obey other minimum Ltd., a footwear production company enterprise the finance director was conditions set by labor laws, along with 2,500 employees in Zhejiang a member of the trade union team with a union’s commitment to help

Freedom of Association, Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively boost productivity. If a contract has party committee. Now the party itself to deal with the official union. an additional clause or two, it might committee asked us to do ideolog- provide for more company-sponsored ical work with the workers, to give By April 2004, Wal-Mart had 37 picnics than the year before. them the right thoughts. . . . The stores in 18 Chinese cities, with measures we take have to be better more stores in development. Under 30 Unions’ submission of contracts to ways, like the more reasonable and the Trade Union Law, the company

CHAPTER 2 members for their approval is “more lawful ways. This is the way we is required to recognize the ACFTU of an exercise in propaganda and guard their rights.” union for its employees and to con- persuasion than of the active partici- tribute 2 percent of its total wage pation of the membership.” Where An ACFTU official at a joint venture expenditure to the union fund. But wages are discussed, ACFTU unions company run by a prominent multi- since entering China more than often support management demands national corporation told a senior three years ago, Wal-Mart has for higher pay for already higher-paid international trade union leader that scoffed at the law, refusing to allow workers at the expense of lower-paid the union would oppose a wage ACFTU presence in its stores. workers. “In all cases,” researchers increase even if the company volun- ACFTU officials complain that reported, “the trade union endorsed tarily offered one. The ACFTU “it is impossible for such a big the widening of differentials and took leader said that a raise would trigger company to have no trade union” it upon itself to persuade the first-line similar demands by workers in other and “multinational companies must [lower-paid] workers of the need for export zone area factories.37 abide by Chinese law.” To date, the increased inequality and their restraint ACFTU has had virtually no success in the interests of the enterprise.” 35 Wal-Mart in China in getting government authorities The approval of Normal Trade to enforce the law. However, in In a September 2003 telephone Relations for China in 2000 was seen November 2004, under heavy interview, Han Dongfang of China by proponents as a measure that pressure from the National People’s Labour Bulletin asked a trade union would “help open markets to Congress and the ACFTU, Wal- chair whether the union supported American products and help export Mart announced that it would allow workers’ protest of inadequate sever- American values, especially freedom ACFTU branch unions to be ance pay at the Suizhou fuel pump and entrepreneurship.” 38 In Wal- established in its retail operations and nozzle factory in Hubei. The Mart’s case, exporting American in China.39 chair responded:36 values amounted to exporting U.S.- style anti-unionism to China. Despite But these relatively few retail stores “No, not the trade union. We have the ACFTU’s subservient role, and do not reveal the scope of the prob- to follow the party committee’s its principal role as a labor control lem. Even if Wal-Mart becomes open instructions. . . . It is required that mechanism, the U.S.-based multina- to a union presence, the hundreds of the trade union has to be under the tional retailing giant could not bring thousands of workers who produce in

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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I obscurity for Wal-Mart stores In Wal-Mart’s case, exporting American values amounted to throughout the world—including exporting U.S.-style anti-unionism to China. 5,400 factories in China alone—will still not be adequately protected.40 is difficult to get Wal-Mart orders. ment of workers’ right to strike. In February 2004, China Labor Heyi is afraid that if Wal-Mart dis- This situation might leave a minor 31

Watch and the National Labor covers that another supplier factory opening to explore, however. Under CHAPTER 2 Committee issued a report on worker in the same category is cheaper than principles of civil law, what is not ex- rights violations by Wal-Mart them, even by only a few fen [the pressly forbidden is permitted. Taking suppliers in China. A simultaneous smallest denomination in Chinese this concept into account, worker ad- front-page story in the Washington currency], Wal-Mart will immedi- vocates could argue that strikes are Post prompted widespread follow-up ately end its contract with Heyi not actually prohibited in China. How- by Chinese journalists. One wrote:41 and move its orders to the cheaper ever, while this interpretation may be factory. Heyi can only cut production occasionally helpful to workers inside “On February 8, the Washington Post costs by lowering workers’ wages, China in a transitional environment, criticized as no longer effective Wal- extending work hours, etc., in viola- it is important to note that it is not Mart’s inspections of suppliers’ labor tion of labor rights. The pressure of sufficient to bring Chinese law into rights. The report said that factories Wal-Mart’s low prices competition is conformity with core labor standards. usually received advance notice of therefore shifted onto workers. Moreover, the government’s practical inspections and that they then People in the industry sum up Wal- policy is clear; any attempt by workers cleaned up, manufactured fake work Mart’s methods as The Law of the to strike is quickly suppressed. hour sheets, and told workers how to Jungle: the most ruthless succeed.” respond to inspectors’ questions, etc. The government’s political distaste Right to Strike for this basic element of freedom of “The next day, the National Labor association is reflected in the law’s Committee and China Labor In 1975, when China amended its avoidance of the use of the word Watch released a report criticizing constitution, Mao asked for the “strike” (bagong) altogether. Instead, Wal-Mart for ignoring poor work inclusion of the right to strike as a the law refers to stoppage (tinggong) environments, paycheck deductions cosmetic gesture. In 1982, the or slowdown (daigong). Article 27 of from employees’ lowest wages, and government dropped it in honest the 2001 Trade Union Law states: forced overtime in its Dongguan recognition of the reality. Official City supplier factories.When this ideology decreed that conflict was “In case of a work-stoppage or a go- reporter went to the criticized Heyi not possible between workers and slow in an enterprise, the trade union plastic cement factory in Sanbaitang managers in a socialist system. Today, shall represent staff and workers in district, a manager explained that it there is still no direct acknowledg- consultation with the enterprise,

Freedom of Association, Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively institution or relevant party, and shall the position taken by CCP officials protest movement abated. reflect the opinions and demands of during discussions of the Trade Union staff and workers as well as raise Law revisions when it was asserted In May 2004, workers at the Xin Ang solutions. The enterprise or institu- that “. . . trade unions also play a role shoe factory in Dongguan City, a sub- tion shall strive for a settlement with in persuading and directing workers to contracted supplier to several multina- 32 the reasonable demands made by the help continue production.” 43 tional firms, struck to protest withheld

CHAPTER 2 staff and workers. The trade union wages and oppressive working condi- shall strive hard in its task to assist Most important, Article 27 offers tions. Management deducted workers’ the enterprise or institution to restore no protection or legal guarantees to pay for failing to make impossible the normal order of production as workers engaged in industrial action, production quotas; forced daily and soon as possible.” whether strikes, stoppages, or slow- weekend overtime on workers up to downs. In July 2003, some 1,800 15 hours per day; pulled, slapped, and Some commentators see the new workers at the Zaoyang fertilizer pinched workers for not working fast provision as an implied right to strike factory in Hubei struck to protest enough; and failed to provide gloves because it concedes the existence of layoff terms imposed on them without and masks to prevent poisoning by stoppages and slowdowns and author- consultation or negotiation. City offi- chemicals used in the production izes trade unions to “strive for a settle- cials ordered police to detain leaders process. When workers went on strike, ment” rather than ban the actions. and require other strike participants to management summoned hundreds of But experts at the Hong Kong report to police headquarters. Workers police officers, who attacked the Liaison Office (IHLO), the official who reported were also detained. strikers and arrested leaders. As of representation of the ICFTU and August 2004, they had not been Global Union Federations (GUFs) in In October 2003, more than 1,000 released, and police continued to with- Hong Kong, argue that “the text of armed police attacked thousands of hold their names as well as the charges the revised law provides no evidence protesting workers at the Nanchong against them. Sowing fear among to support this claim.” 42 textile mill in Sichuan. The workers plant workers, management is telling were striking against layoff plans them that the arrested leaders face 15 IHLO analysts point out that local that left half the plant’s force with years in prison. IHLO experts authorities decide what are “reasonable slashed pensions and benefits and conclude:44 demands” and that if authorities deem claimed two months’ unpaid wages such demands “unreasonable,” workers for work already performed. Police “The fact is that workers arrested for may face repression. Furthermore, the arrested dozens of workers and organizing and leading strikes or emphasis in this section of the law is protest leaders at the scene, and more forming independent trade unions in on the requirement that trade unions in door-to-door sweeps through the past have not been dealt with work to restore production as soon as workers’ homes. Again, authorities under existing labour and trade possible. This conditionality reflects held these activists for weeks until the union laws, but have been persecuted

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA under criminal laws. If this is the by 5,000 workers protesting manage- we just can’t say ‘no’ to our leaders. . . . case, then we must ask how revisions ment’s layoff plan. The worker said it is just too difficult to handle, to to the Trade Union Law make any that “more than a thousand” armed balance the leaders’ instructions and difference to workers’ perceptions of police broke up the strike: “They the workers’ feelings.” 46 how free they are to organize unions came at 2 or 3 a.m. [on October 10] and/or engage in strike action.” and took away quite a number of Strike Over Pay Cuts 33

workers, they wanted to stop our In April 2004, hundreds of workers CHAPTER 2 ACFTU Officials on Strikes protest. You know, they filmed the at the Xinxiong shoe factory in Early in 2003, workers at the Luyuan strike with video cameras and came Dongguan City, Guangdong Prov- timber company in Suichang County, to arrest us at night . . . at our homes. ince, struck for two days to protest Zhejiang, struck for two weeks to pro- They came while we were sleeping.” management’s unilateral change in test management’s failure to consult their work shift schedule. Workers’ workers over restructuring plans and Han contacted a union official from pay averaged $14 for their six-day, employee stock ownership. In a tele- the ACFTU city labor federation to ten-hours-per-day workweek. phone interview with Han Dongfang ask what the trade union was doing of China Labour Bulletin, the chair- about the conflict. The union official Chinese labor law requires time-and- man of the ACFTU county labor responded: a-half pay for overtime, double pay federation had this to say about the for weekends, and triple pay for local union leadership at the plant:45 “Don’t you know the situation in holiday work. The company elimi- China? Do you think the trade nated the Saturday ten-hour shift at “The work of the trade union in this union in China can really represent this legally mandated double salary enterprise is rather weak. . . . [Zhang the workers to negotiate with the and forced workers into weekday 12- Xingquo], the chairman of the trade government? . . . Now the trade hour shifts with all overtime paid at union, is also the vice president of union can only represent the party time-and-a-half. The company main- the enterprise. . . . He used to be a committee in doing some ideological tained a 60-hour workweek, but deputy director of the Economic and work on the workers, to explain to shoved it into five 12-hour days Trade Committee in Suichang them the party’s intentions and solu- instead of six ten-hour days. Workers County. Later the factory recruited tions. . . . We trade unions are under still worked a 60-hour week with 20 him. He is a manager of the factory.” the party committee’s control.” hours overtime per week, but now all hours were paid at time-and-a- In October 2003, Han conducted a Han then contacted a local union half rather than ten hours at time- telephone interview with a worker official, who added, “So workers are and-a-half and ten hours at double from a cotton spinning mill in not happy with us. It is like they are time. They effectively lost five hours’ Nanchong, Sichuan, where police had fighting for their rights and we are the pay per week from their already rock- arrested leaders of a three-day strike bad guys to interfere. But you know, bottom salaries. Besides having an

Freedom of Association, Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively impact on pay, the extension of the York-based China Labor Watch:48 workday from ten to 12 hours greatly “The problems He Jun described “The boss could not replace striking increased job safety hazards. Repeated correspond to a portion of factories in workers immediately, so sometimes studies have shown that workers tire, the County. He originally worked at he would raise the workers’ wages. lose concentration, and suffer acci- Shatangs Suncheng Shoe Company The moment the boss said he would 34 dents at much higher rates during Ltd., in Dongguan City. Over the raise wages, the workers would very

CHAPTER 2 longer work shifts. course of the two years he worked happily return to work. However, there, the normal work schedule was this kind of promise was rarely An official from the local township eight hours a day, but if they had to, fulfilled, He Jun said. The next time government told China Labour Bul- workers at the Suncheng factory there was a strike, the boss would letin that “the strike was an almost would work more, often 15 hours a cheat them again; it was like acting inevitable outbreak of collective day. The longest overtime shift He in a play. anger against the management.” A Jun worked was from seven in the mid-level manager acknowledged morning until past two in the after- “After strikes, the boss would often that “the majority of workers there, noon the next day. After working only raise the wages of overseers, despite national regulations to the continuously for 31 hours, everyone foremen, and workplace directors. contrary, were being denied pensions collapsed. He Jun also once worked Some of those who benefited from and medical insurance.” for three months without a single these raises would not lead strikes day off. His overtime wages were far again. Young migrant men and The strike ended with the arrest and below the labor laws standard. women from the countryside dared detention of ten workers.47 not and were not able to protect “He Jun witnessed 15 strikes. He said their own rights, so the boss did not On Strike . . . To Bed that strikes weren’t started casually. even need to trick them. An account published in a Chinese Usually workers in the sewing and weekly newspaper suggests the shoe shaping departments began “No one came to help us, He Jun frequency of strikes and their mixed strikes. The employees in the two said. The factory would keep results. Unusual tactics arise, too, such workplaces, as the departments were workers’ deposits and delay paying as striking workers returning to their called, felt that they earned too little wages in order to prevent employ- dormitories to sleep, instead of setting money for too much work, so they ees from leaving the factory. When up picket lines. A reporter for China’s would stop working and go to sleep there were injuries or sicknesses, the Phoenix Weekly newspaper interviewed in their dormitories. The two work- workers’ helplessness and weakness He Jun in 2004, describing him as “a places were the most crucial depart- would be even more obvious.” typical Pearl River Delta migrant ments in the factory; once workers worker.” Here are portions of the went on strike there, all production in news story, as translated by New the factory had to stop for a period.

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Endnotes

1 Article 1(d) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties defines “reservation” as follows: “[R]eservation” means a unilateral statement, however phrased or named, made by a State, when signing, ratifying, accepting, approving or acceding to a treaty, whereby it purports to exclude or to modify the legal effect of certain provisions of the treaty in their application to that State.” Article 19 goes on: A State may, when signing, ratifying, accepting, approving or acceding to a treaty, formulate a reservation unless . . . the reservation is 35 incompatible with the object and purpose of the treaty [emphasis added]. The UN Committee on Human Rights (UNCHR) stated that as a

general principle, “The normal consequence of an unacceptable reservation is that the reservation must be regarded as null and void, at CHAPTER 2 least in those parts that prove to be incompatible with the object and purpose of the treaty.” For a full analysis, see Human Rights Watch, Paying the Price: Worker Unrest in Northeast China (2002), Appendix 4. Available at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/chinalbr02/chinalbr0802-08.htm#P891_192016

2 See Trade Union Law of the People’s Republic of China, Article 10 (as amended, 2001).

3 See Trade Union Law of the People’s Republic of China, Article 4 (as amended, 2001).

4 See China Labour Bulletin, Analysis of the New Trade Union Law, February 28, 2002, www.ihlo.org/item2/clbtulaw.pdf.

5 See ILO, Organizing for Social Justice, Report of the Director-General (2004).

6 See ILO, 310th Report of the Committee on Freedom of Association (1998).

7 See ICFTU, China: Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights (2003); ILO, Committee on Freedom of Association Report, China (Case No. 2189), Report No. 334 (2004).

8 See Human Rights Watch, Paying the Price: Worker Unrest in Northeast China (August 2002), p. 11; Amnesty International, People’s Republic of China: Labour Unrest and the Suppression of the Rights to Freedom of Association and Expression (April 30, 2002). Available at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA170152002?open&of=ENG-CHN

9 See U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2003: China (2004). Available at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27768.htm

10 For more details, see the China Labour Bulletin web site at www.china-labour.org.hk.

11 The groups of examples of worker rights abuses cited here and elsewhere in the report help demonstrate a pattern of violation. In some cases, the occurrence of these violations may mean that the practice is a policy. In others, it may simply be due to inadequate legal protection or poor legal enforcement. But regardless of the root cause, it represents a violation of worker rights.

12 See “Hunger, Diabetes, Threaten Imprisoned Labor Activist,” China Labor Watch, April 29, 2004, at www.chinalaborwatch.org.

13 See Human Rights Watch, Paying the Price: Worker Unrest in Northeast China, pp. 16-17.

14 The text of the indictment is reported in Human Rights Watch, HRW Documents on China, “Indictment of Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang in Liaoyang, China, at http://hrw.org/press/2003/02/chinaindictment.htm.

15 See Nicholas D. Kristof, “China’s Velvet Glove,” New York Times, December 17, 2003, p. 39.

16 See ILO Committee on Freedom of Association, China (Case No. 2189), Report No. 333 (April 2004). Freedom of Association, Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively 17 See Amnesty International, People’s Republic of China: Labour Unrest and the Suppression of the Rights to Freedom of Association and Expression, note 8 above.

18 See Philip P. Pan, “Chinese Mines Exploit Workers’ Desperation,” Washington Post, September 9, 2001, p. A1.

19 See Human Rights Watch, Paying the Price: Worker Unrest in Northeast China, p. 35. 36 20 See ICFTU, Complaint to ILO Freedom of Association Committee, Case Nos. 1930 and 2031 (China), June 2, 2002. CHAPTER 2 21 The process is described as follows in Article 33 of the Trade Union Law: “The employees of an enterprise as one party may conclude [qianding, “to conclude and sign”] a collective contract with the enterprise as another party on labor remunerations, work hours, rests and leaves, labor safety and sanitation, insurance, welfare treatment, and other matters. “The draft collective contract shall be submitted to the workers' representative assembly or all the employees for discussion and passage [taolun tongguo, “to discuss and to pass”]. “Collective contracts shall be signed [qianding] by and between the trade union on behalf of the employees and the employer. In an enterprise that has not yet set up [meiyou jianli, “has not established”] a trade union, such contracts shall be signed by and between representatives recommended by workers and the enterprise.”

22 See China Labour Bulletin, “A Female State-Owned Enterprise Worker in Zhejiang Discusses Enterprise Reform,” March 8, 2003. Transcript at http://www.china-labour.org.hk/iso/article.adp?article_id=4125.

23 See Philip P. Pan, “When Workers Organize, China’s Party-Run Unions Resist,” Washington Post, October 15, 2002, p. A11.

24 Ibid.

25 See Simon Clarke, Chang-Hee Lee, and Qi Li, “Collective Consultation and Industrial Relations in China,” British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 42, No. 2, June 2004, pp. 235-254.

26 See Qi Li, “A Study of Labour Relations in State-Owned Enterprises in China: The Continued Dominance of the State and the Failure of the Collective Contract System” (Ph.D. thesis, City University of Hong Kong, 2000).

27 See S. Baek, “The Changing Trade Unions in China,” Journal of Contemporary Asia, Vol. 30, No. 1, 2000.

28 See Simon Clarke, Chang-Hee Lee, and Qi Li, “Collective Consultation and Industrial Relations in China,” 2004; D. Ding, K. Goodall, and M. Warner, “The Impact of Economic Reform on the Role of Trade Unions in Chinese Enterprises,” International Journal of Human Resources Management, Vol. 13, No. 3, 2002, pp. 431-449.

29 See “The Law of Trade Union Should Be Strictly Enforced,” Workers Daily, February 28, 2003, reported in China Labour Bulletin, March 19, 2003. Available at http://www.china-labour.org.hk/iso/article_listings2.adp?category_id=11

30 See Workers Daily, September 17, 2003. p. 1.

31 See Nanfong (South China) weekend newspaper, “Failed to Recover Legal Rights: 39 Workers Put on Blacklist,” 2003.

32 See Hangzhou Daily, June 25, 2003.

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33 See Simon Clarke, Chang-Hee Lee, and Qi Li, note 25 above.

34 See Philip P. Pan, “When Workers Organize, China’s Party-Run Unions Resist,”note 23 above.

35 See Qi Li, note 26 above, Chapter 7; Simon Clarke, Chang-Hee Lee, and Qi Li, note 25 above.

36 See China Labour Bulletin, “Interview with the Suizhou Fuel Pump and Nozzle Factory’s Trade Union,” September 2, 2003. 37 37

See ICFTU, Complaint to the ILO Freedom of Association Committee, Case Nos. 1930 and 2031 (China), June 2, 2003. CHAPTER 2

38 Most Favored Nation (MFN) status was renamed Normal Trade Relations (NTR) in 1998. Both the Clinton administration and then-candi- date George W. Bush strongly supported NTR for China. See http://www.itds.treas.gov/mfa.html; Eric Schmitt, “Opening to China: The Overview,” New York Times, September 20, 2000, p. A1.

39 See “Wal-Mart Makes Moves to Expand Its Stores,” China Daily, February 18, 2004, at http://www1.chinataiwan.org/web/webportal/W5029239/A5523114.html; “Wal-Mart-China Union Crisis,” Jilin Workers Daily newspaper, October 6, 2003; Christopher Bodeen, “Wal-Mart Concedes China Can Make Unions,” Associated Press, November 23, 2004.

40 See Chen Huimin, Low Price of Wal-Mart and China (School of Financial Management, Zhongnan University of Finance and Law, 2004). Available at http://cn.mlcool.com/~mlcool/html/ns002069.htm

41 See China Labor Watch and National Labor Committee, “Toys of Misery,” February 8, 2004, available at http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/reports/030210.htm; Peter S. Goodman and Philip P. Pan, “Chinese Workers Pay for Wal-Mart’s Low Prices: Retailer Squeezes Its Asian Suppliers to Cut Costs,” Washington Post, February 8, 2004, p. A1; “Condemnation of Wal-Mart Sparks Labor Rights Self-Criticism in Zhusanjiao County,” Phoenix Weekly newspaper, Issue 141, May 2004, reported by China Labor Watch, May 26, 2004.

42 See Ming Pao newspaper, October 1, 2001, cited in Hong Kong Liaison Office, “The Revised Trade Union Law in Mainland China: Progress or Regression for Worker and Trade Union Rights?” November 20, 2001; China Daily newspaper, October 25, 2001, cited in Hong Kong Liaison Office, “The Revised Trade Union Law in Mainland China: Progress or Regression for Worker and Trade Union Rights?” November 20, 2001.

43 See Hong Kong Liaison Office, “The Revised Trade Union Law in Mainland China: Progress or Regression for Worker and Trade Union Rights?” November 20, 2001.

44 Ibid.

45 See China Labour Bulletin, “The Hidden Conflicts Unveiled: The Chairman of Suichang Trade Union Talks about the Strike in Luyuan,” March 1, 2003. Transcript available at http://www.china-labour.org.hk/iso/article.adp?article_id=4247.

46 See China Labour Bulletin, “5,000 Workers Started a Strike to Protest Against the Unjustifiable Retrenchment Policy,” October 25, 2003. Transcripts of all three interviews are on file with Solidarity Center.

47 See China Labour Bulletin, “More Than 10 Shoe Factory Workers Detained after a Dispute of Overtime Work, Dongguan, Guangdong,” April 29, 2004. Transcript available at http://www.china-labour.org.hk/iso/article.adp?article_id=5696

48 See Phoenix Weekly newspaper, Issue 141, May 2004, reported in China Labor Watch, May 26, 2004.

Freedom of Association, Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively CHAPTER 3

Discrimination in the Workplace

hina has ratified ILO The Chinese constitution guarantees In addition, women’s traditional— Convention 100 on equal pay women equal rights with men in all and commonly considered primary— Cfor women and men doing spheres of life, promises to protect role as caregivers leads employers to equal work or work of equal value. It the rights and interests of women, avoid hiring women and to get rid of has not ratified Convention 111, the and applies the principle of equal pay women workers for being supposedly 38 ILO’s general non-discrimination for equal work. China’s labor laws less flexible and less adaptable to

CHAPTER 3 instrument, which bars discrimina- and regulations generally require workplace needs. A researcher at tion based on race, color, sex, religion, equal pay and equality of treatment Beijing University Law School said, political opinion, national extraction, for women workers. “There’s a saying: Girls are like water or social origin. Whether ratified or in a basin. After a while, you pour it not, however, both of these conven- But law and reality often conflict. out. This attitude is reflected in every tions are among those cited as “core” The Law on Women’s Rights and aspect of life. Women are the first to in the ILO’s 1998 Declaration on Interests contains many restrictions be laid off. Women have the hardest Fundamental Principles and Rights at on jobs, working hours, and working time getting justice in this society. Work, and member countries are conditions for women that effectively Women are the first to be taken ad- bound to uphold their principles. deny them employment opportunities vantage of.” The main problem here is and equality in employment. For the failure to implement the law.2 Discrimination Against example, the law prohibits discrimi- Women Workers nation against women in employ- China’s turn to capitalism and ment. It also requires protecting export-led development has had China has ratified the UN Conven- women from working in unspecified profound effects on women workers, tion on the Elimination of All Forms dangerous occupations. Employers creating both opportunities and new of Discrimination Against Women therefore use the law to exclude forms of discrimination. Several (CEDAW) and the International women or to lower their wages. decades ago, the only fate available to Covenant on Economic, Social, and According to a national survey, young women was to wait to be Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Both people involved with women’s legal married off by their parents, without international human rights instru- issues believe that the three major any hope of seeing a world outside ments obligate governments to take problems with the legal system are their villages. But as migration is all measures in their power to elimi- unclear laws, unclear enforcement occurring around the establishment nate discrimination against women. authority, and laws that are practically of export processing zones across the impossible to execute or enforce.1 globe, young women in massive

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA numbers have moved from rural get up and work until dark. Not a gas hot plate, and rarely leaving the areas in the interior of the country single minute to sit down and rest.” premises. Working conditions are to low-wage, labor-intensive, private hazardous in many garment, elec- investor owned manufacturing When this worker left the factory tronics, shoe, and toy factories, with plants in the south and eastern after one year to return to her village widespread use of toxic chemicals coastal regions. In theory, this in Anhui Province to marry, the such as benzene, chromium, and historical development could help owner failed to pay her 2,000 Rmb vinyl chloride. In one case, 28 young these young women achieve econo- ($260) in withheld wages. With- women workers in a Taiwanese- mic independence and provide them holding wages is part of an employ- owned shoe factory in Dongguan 39 with a greater range of life choices. ment bonding system designed to suffered toxic poisoning and nerve

In reality, however, this is not the keep workers on the job for at least damage that led to loss of muscle CHAPTER 3 predominant outcome. a year. control and partial paralysis.4

In the 2000 census, women com- After getting married and having a Older women workers in state-owned prised 60 percent of the more than child, the worker returned to the same enterprises have been front-line 10 million migrant laborers in factory job in Wenzhou. Asked why, victims of other types of discrim- Guangdong Province. In 2003, some she replied, “We are in despair staying ination as these firms are restructured 70 percent of the 5.5 million in our village. The farm village is very into smaller private companies to migrant workers in the Shenzhen poor. We all live in poverty.” She compete in the global marketplace. special economic zone were women. later quit the factory again, and again Government regulations tacitly In Shenzhen’s industrial district of failed to obtain her deferred salary. encourage SOEs to lay off women Nanshan, 80 percent of the half- This time she stayed in Wenzhou workers first, before male workers. million workers were women; their and took work as a restaurant server, (Although the law does not permit average age was 23.3 then as a beautician. such discrimination, many local regulations state that the “main Young women workers are often Many of these female migrant bread earners” in families should be locked into exploitation in these workers—called dagongmei—work given priority in keeping their jobs.) factory zones, because the situation without contracts in private firms In this way, women are often doubly in their rural homes is even bleaker. rife with abusive treatment and labor discriminated against—by both sex Speaking of her work in a pantyhose law violations. They often work 60 to and age—as many are forced into an factory in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Prov- 70 hours a week with no overtime early retirement that yields much ince, a young woman worker told an pay. Many are packed into dormito- smaller pensions. A 2002 study by the interviewer, “The hardship working ries next to the factories, sleeping six World Bank detailed some of the in that shop is hardly imaginable for or eight or even more than a dozen many challenges to women’s equality those who have not been there. You in a small room, cooking over a small in China:5

Discrimination in the Workplace I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I “As in many other countries, China “If a woman and a man apply at the same time for a job, they’ll is having some difficulty moni- consider the man,” says recent university graduate Li Ripeng. toring and enforcing its own Labor Law, especially in the private “They won’t talk to a woman.” sector—let alone the informal sector. State affirmative action than 150 centimeters.” The World At another 2002 fair in Beijing open policies have receded while tradi- Bank found “evidence that even to men and women job seekers, 117 tional gender stereotypes and government departments, which of 264 employers indicated that they values have re-emerged, including would be expected to uphold non- considered only men. Tan Lin, a 40 increasing gender discrimination in discrimination clauses of the Labor professor at the Institute of Demog-

CHAPTER 3 the labor market. Women are often Law, have openly discouraged raphy and Development, Nan Kai employed in lower status, lower female university graduates from University, said that half of the paid jobs. During the transition, applying for employment at recruit- companies that recruited at Nan Kai women have had a harder time ment fairs.” In a September 2002 wanted to hire only males. The than men obtaining and keeping survey of 1,100 women conducted university had to ask them to con- jobs. . . . Women appear to be dis- by the Jiangsu Women’s Federation, sider some female graduates after proportionately represented among 80 percent of respondents said that providing them all the documents for laid-off workers, suffer from higher they had encountered discrimination males. A Chinese People’s University unemployment rate and have in the job-seeking process.6 professor said that he would not greater difficulty finding alternate admit any female graduate students, employment.” When Li Riping, a new graduate of because helping them to find a job Chinese People’s University, joined after graduation was really a head- Discrimination in Hiring the crush of college seniors looking ache to him.8 Discrimination in hiring is an open for jobs, she knew the rules: “If a practice in China. The 2002 World woman and a man apply at the same Sexual discrimination in employment Bank study reported, “Job advertise- time for a job, they’ll consider the is so serious that many women feel ments often specify applicants man; they won’t talk to [a] woman.” compelled to take extreme measures should be male, or young, attractive In November 2002, the Beijing labor to get a job. Zhang Jing, an “ugly- women, although such job discrimi- bureau wanted to hold a job fair for looking” girl in Tianjin, considered nation flouts the 1992 Women’s women to solve the difficulties that facial surgery because she was reject- Law.” Employers’ job advertisements female college seniors and master’s ed by hundreds of employers. Miss commonly say “only male,” “men degree holders face. The bureau Wang, a university senior in Shang- preferred,” “25 years or younger,” sought participation from 500 compa- hai, disguised herself as a man to and sometimes even stipulate girls nies in Beijing, including many multi- attend job fairs. Some graduating who are “good-looking” and “taller national firms, but only five replied.7 students have felt that they needed to

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA have sexually provocative pictures some 75 percent of laid-off women, around you, everyone here is female. taken and wear sexually alluring compared with only 50 percent of Now what we can do? We’re not clothes to attract recruiters.9 men, were still unemployed after young enough. We do not have expe- one year.11 rience.” “The training programs they Discrimination in Layoffs offer have reinforced stereotypes Women in China find themselves not In a 1998 interview, a female laid-off about women’s work and skills,” only last hired but also first fired. The worker attending an unemployment added Ching Kwan Lee, a sociologist World Bank found that “women have center in Tianjin told the New York at the City University of Hong Kong. borne a disproportionate share of the Times, “At our factory everyone who “Beautician, seamstress, domestic 12 41 layoffs, especially early on during the was laid off was a woman. Look helper, child care.” restructuring of the SOEs, since the CHAPTER 3 sectors targeted for retrenchment were those where women formed the majority of the workforce.”10

The Ministry of Labor and Social Security reported that in 1997, while women accounted for only 39 percent of China’s workforce, they made up nearly 61 percent of its laid-off workers. In the large-scale shutdowns, shrinking, and sell-offs of SOEs that began in the mid- 1990s, women workers were laid off at much higher rates than men. According to a 1999 investigation of more than 4 million laid-off workers in Liaoning, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Heilongjiang, and Anhui, 60 to 80 percent of the laid-off workers were female. A 2002 study in Beijing, Tianjin, Nanjing, Xi’an, Chang- chun, and Wuhan found that 57 percent of laid-off workers were female. Official figures show that

Discrimination in the Workplace

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Retirement Age Discrimination In contrast with recruitment literature seeking “only males” or “males In China, men retire at 60, and preferred” for graduate level jobs, advertisements for low-paid and women retire at 55. The discrepancy is ostensibly meant to protect women’s unskilled jobs in Guangzhou and Shenzhen factories express interests, but critics say that the preference for young, nimble-fingered, and expendable females. policy discriminates against women.13 Analyst Zhang Lu found that the suitable only for women. These jobs Data from the Chinese Bureau of retirement age discrepancy causes include repetitive unskilled work in Statistics show that the wage gap women to receive substantially manufacturing; domestic work, clean- between women and men increased 42 smaller pensions than men, further ing, and other service industries; and 7.4 percent between 1990 and 2000.

CHAPTER 3 reducing women’s financial status. “female” occupations such as primary In 2003, 19.8 percent of women school teaching. In contrast with workers, but only 11.6 percent of The discrepancy also induces enter- recruitment literature seeking “only men, earned less than 500 Rmb ($65) prises to lay off women first. In many males” or “males preferred” for grad- per month. In contrast, 6.6 percent of failing SOEs, women are forced to uate level jobs, advertisements for women workers and 12.6 percent of retire in their middle thirties to low-paid and unskilled jobs in men earned more than 2,000 Rmb forties and wait for a tiny pension, Guangzhou and Shenzhen factories ($260). Among workers earning more instead of being laid off and receiv- express preference for young, nimble- than 5,000 Rmb ($650) per month, ing unemployment benefits. fingered, and expendable females.15 14.4 percent were female and 85.6 percent were male.17 The early retirement age for women Both the All China Women’s Fed- also causes more “glass ceiling” prob- eration and the ACFTU perpetuate Sexual Harassment lems for women’s career develop- the myth that women are best suited Studies show that 84 percent of ment. Because women retire at age for such jobs through their training Chinese women suffer some form of 55, a company considers only women courses for unemployed women, sexual harassment. Half of these inci- younger than 45 for advancement. which deal mainly with beauty treat- dents are employment related. These Thus, 45-year-old women at the ment, dressmaking, and housekeeping. studies also show that 72 percent of height of their talent and energy This job segregation explains much of workplace sexual harassment inci- lose the chance to be promoted to the wage gap between women and dents are committed by supervisors higher ranks.14 men. According to a study by Xin and 28 percent by colleagues.18 Meng of the Australian National Unequal Pay and University, gender wage discrimina- Because China has no law that Occupational Segregation tion accounts for 73 percent of the explicitly defines and prohibits sexual As in many countries, some employ- total gender wage gap in China.16 harassment, obtaining evidence to file ment sectors in China are seen as claims is very difficult. Without laws

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA

to protect them, women workers from terminating women employees for the duration of this contract, I who suffer harassment choose either during pregnancy, maternity leave, will not become pregnant. If I am to leave the company or to swallow and breast-feeding of babies under pregnant, I will be terminated as a the insults and humiliations. Social one year old. However, according to voluntary resignation.” 22 Many pressures and the tendency to “blame Zhang Zheng, an official from the employers even demand that female the victim” in harassment cases also Xicheng Labor Dispute Arbitration applicants provide certificates of prevent women from speaking out. Center in Beijing, the laws are not their single status as a precondition consistently enforced. In 2002, this of employment. In a 2004 article, Beijing Youth Daily small center alone received some 80 43 columnist An Dun wrote that most cases involving violations of these Although there are serious gaps in 20 of the women whom she inter- rights, and the number is rising. enforcement, some observers believe CHAPTER 3 viewed had been sexually harassed that China’s enforcement of women’s on the job. Interviewee Liu Jia said Contrary to law, some employment legal right to be paid pregnancy and that she resigned after she could not contracts state that during mater- maternity benefits is more effective bear any more of her bosses’ sexual nity leave workers will not be paid than that of any other labor law touching and forced kisses. But and the employer will not cover provision. However, selective or when she resigned, the company their medical expenses. A recent partial enforcement of these norms, refused to pay her that month’s survey conducted by Xinhua and or enforcement in the absence of salary because she had not given Beijing municipal labor authorities concrete laws on gender discrimina- them a month’s notice. Li Mingli found that some 10 percent of tion, can actually exacerbate other and her husband divorced because of employers do not respect labor law forms of discrimination. For example, her boss’s continual midnight calls. requirements for women workers’ if only the pregnancy-related laws are After the divorce, Li left her job and employment contracts. Zhou enforced, employers are encouraged opened her own flower shop. She Fenzhi, a postal worker in a Hunan to discriminate against women of said that she did not want to work Province, was fired after taking childbearing age in order to avoid the for companies any more because maternity leave.21 cost of such benefits. sexual harassment is so common in the workplace.19 Many companies demand that Forced Searches women sign contracts stating that The ACFTU’s 2004 annual report Discrimination Against for a specified number of years, described serious violations of Pregnant Women they are not allowed to bear chil- women’s physical integrity in some According to Chinese labor law, dren or they will be fired. At one non-SOEs. Some employers have particularly the Law on the Pro- telecommunications company, imposed strict disciplinary regula- tection of Rights and Interests of women workers are forced to sign a tions aimed at women workers. If Women, employers are prohibited contract indicating, “I pledge that women employees violate the poli-

Discrimination in the Workplace I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I cies, they are insulted, searched, and The number of Chinese who have left farms and now trawl the cities beaten. A female cleaner in Shang- for work probably exceeds the entire workforce of the United States. hai attempted suicide after being forced to undress when the super- visor at her workplace claimed that Discrimination Based on impairing equality of opportunity or he had lost 1,000 Rmb ($130) and Social Origin: China’s treatment in employment or occupa- suspected her of the theft. At a wig- Migrant Workers tion” [emphasis added]. making factory in Shenzhen, a Korean employer, suspicious that Article 2 of the UN Universal Migrant workers have powered 44 some women workers had stolen a Declaration of Human Rights much of China’s export growth and

CHAPTER 3 wig, searched 56 of them and made prohibits discrimination on the basis construction industries. As part of them stand still for one hour with of social origin. So does the the government’s market-oriented their arms on their heads.23 International Covenant on Civil and economic development strategy, 150 Political Rights. China has ratified to 200 million rural peasants have On August 6, 2002, supervisors at a the International Covenant on moved from the countryside to diamond factory in Zonghua City, Economic, Social, and Cultural urban centers in the past decade. The Guangzhou Province, arbitrarily Rights, committing itself to guar- rural-to-urban flow is most intense undressed some 80 female and ten antee those rights “without discrimi- in Beijing, in the coastal industrial male workers to check for stolen nation of any kind as to . . . social areas (in the SEZs) around Shanghai diamonds when one employee lost a origin . . . or other status.” and Guangdong province near Hong pack of four diamonds. Workers were Kong, and in Fujian Province across forced to sign an agreement that Although China has not ratified from Taiwan. In the past quarter- allowed the factory supervisors to Convention 111, it is bound, like all century, Guangdong’s Pearl River search their belongings and bodies. member countries, by the conven- Delta region has grown from an area Even menstruating women were tion’s principles related to “equality of mostly farming villages into a made to remove all their clothes. of opportunity and treatment in massive manufacturing center with a “They forced us to strip off clothes respect of employment and occupa- population of 50 million people. and checked us,” said one woman. tion, with a view to eliminating any Pearl River Delta factories account “This is illegal, infringing our rights. discrimination in respect thereof.” for one-third of China’s foreign We are working here, but were The convention defines discrimina- trade. As one analyst notes, “The stripped off to check. If it spreads to tion as “any distinction, exclusion or number of Chinese who have left our hometown, how shall we meet preference made on the basis of race, farms and now trawl the cities for people there? This case has created colour, sex, religion, political opinion, work probably exceeds the entire huge mental hurt for us.”24 national extraction or social origin, workforce of the United States.”25 which has the effect of nullifying or

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA Migrant worker movement into 10,000 coal miner deaths per year, supported heavy industrialization SEZs is only part of the broader and unofficial estimates are as high over the more labor-intensive light transformation of the labor market as 40,000.26 industries, and it favored urban in China and the transfer of surplus dwellers by maintaining a cheap, agricultural labor from countryside Many city dwellers derisively call steady food supply line to the cities. to city. Millions of migrant workers China’s migrant peasant workers also labor in the construction sector, Mang Liu. This term, which literally Hukou status is inherited. The chil- fueling the rapid pace and high vol- means “drifting” or “wandering dren of peasants can change to urban ume of new building and transport without direction,” was applied from hukou status only by going to univer- 45 construction. Others have gone into the late 1950s to the early 1990s to sity or sometimes by entering the the mining industry, the world’s the millions of peasants who moved army and being promoted to an CHAPTER 3 largest, where illegal private mines about the country illegally looking officer’s rank. On the theory (and it now exist. for food or jobs. Today, these migrant is only a theory, not borne out in workers labor in cities and factories practice) that their life on the land Hukou System far from their rural homes, but they guarantees security, peasants are not carry permanent agricultural worker entitled to pensions, health insurance, Chinese migrants’ living and work- status under the system of house- and other social welfare benefits re- ing conditions are similar to those hold registration called hukou.In served for urban hukou holders. of many migrant workers who move China, a person’s social status is Those who have migrated to cities from poor to developed countries. largely decided by hukou and still hold peasant status, performing The difference in China is that this whether it is agricultural hukou urban workers’ jobs without enjoying discrimination based on social or non-agricultural, urban hukou. urban workers’ benefits linked to origin is codified and applies to urban hukou status. This type of workers migrating inside their own The hukou system is a creation of regulatory discrimination is felt country. As in other countries, government policy going back to most by married workers with fami- Chinese migrant workers com- 1953. Although migration was lies, who are the most likely to need monly receive below minimum severely restricted in 1956, the real the benefits reserved for legal resi- wage pay, put in above maximum implementation of the hukou system dents, such as public education and hours of work, and confront illegal began in 1958, the year of the Great health insurance. workplace hazards and sexual Leap Forward. Ostensibly, the hukou harassment, among other violations system was a grain-rationing arrange- Local officials maintain limits on of their rights. Migrant coal miners ment. But the government’s main migrant workers’ employment in China now face the deadliest goal was to tie the peasants to the opportunities. In 1998, for example, mine working conditions in the land, thereby keeping city growth Beijing adopted prohibitions on world. Official figures cite 5,000 to under control. The system implicitly migrants working in finance, insur-

Discrimination in the Workplace I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I ance, management, accounting, and Under China’s hukou system, migrants must obtain a departure sales and in jobs as cashiers, tele- permit to leave their home, a residence permit to live in a new city, phone operators, taxi drivers, airline crew members, and wait staff in and a work permit for employment. tourist hotels. Migrant workers lack freedom of brutally beaten to death while in Permits, Documents, and movement when employers take police custody.29 Freedom of Movement and hold their papers, which they Under China’s hukou system, mi- must have on their person at all The incident provoked national 46 grants must obtain a departure times if they venture into the sur- outrage. As a result, the State

CHAPTER 3 permit to leave their home, a resi- rounding community. Not having Council ordered the whole nation to dence permit to live in a new city, permits to show police or other stop the practice of arresting and and a work permit for employment. authorities, who can demand to see sending away “drifters.” 30 Several Like foreign guest workers, China’s documents at any time, can mean cities, including Shenyang in Liao- migrant workers are often forbidden immediate expulsion back to the ning Province, revoked the tempo- to bring family members with them. countryside—or worse. In January rary permit system. But it remains 2003, five rural workers without intact in areas with large numbers Migrant workers’ entry and work in papers who were loaded onto a of migrant workers. fast growing industrial areas like the truck in a sweep by the Security Shenzhen and Zhuhai SEZs in the Team of the Qingfengju Neigh- Exclusion from Social Benefits Pearl River Delta near Hong Kong borhood Committee of Baiyun On the basis of their rural hukou are particularly monitored and district in Guangzhou fell out onto status, migrant workers are not controlled. Workers often have to pay the road as the truck sped out of eligible for social insurance and high fees to government officials to town. Three were killed.28 social benefits—including health obtain their various permits. Many care, housing allowances, food officials in urban receiving cities In March 2003, Sun Zhigang, a subsidies, and education assis- demand payments for more permits college-educated 27-year-old fashion tance—that local residents enjoy. and identification documents, such as designer who had traveled to Guang- Residency permits for migrants do proof of unmarried status, proof of zhou in search of work, forgot to take not allow free choice of housing. birth within China’s one-child policy, his permit with him when he went Unable to afford their own lodging, proof of good health, proof that their out on the street. Police apprehended many migrant workers are forced by landlord holds urban hukou, and other him and sent him to a migrant circumstance into dormitory-style, papers.27 Some impose fees of 400 worker detention center. Three days company-owned quarters, with rent Rmb (about $50)—equal to a month’s later, he was pronounced dead. An and meal expenses deducted from wages for most migrant workers. autopsy revealed that Sun had been their paychecks. For many workers,

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA the sheer volume of mandatory simply forbid them from attending minimum wages are to be set at overtime hours makes it impossible public schools, or charge their regional and local levels on the basis for them to do more than return to parents substantial additional fees. of six considerations: the dormitories to eat and sleep. Over 80 percent of migrant chil- I Average local living expenses dren pay more than their urban I Social security and housing To obtain a job, migrants sometimes counterparts to attend school. investment paid by individuals must pay a deposit amounting to Private schools for migrants often I Average wage several months’ wages and repayable find themselves in conflict with I Unemployment rate only if they remain on the job for a local governments and residents I Local economic development 47 long period. In addition to such seeking to close them.” I Other variables bond payments, many employers CHAPTER 3 withhold migrant workers’ wages to Ironically, migrant workers may These factors allow ample leeway ensure that they remain at work. suffer discrimination not only in the for provinces, counties, and cities Workers forfeit the bonds and urban centers where they move to to modify their minimum wages, deferred wages if they leave the job find work, but also in their home including the latitude to lower them.33 before a specified time, usually not villages. The CECC report notes less than one year. However, com- that a large number of legal cases Some analysts believe that this policy pleting the cycle of exploitation, have been filed in Shaanxi Province generates migration to the regions many employers pocket the money over the property rights of people with the best wages, pointing to the when workers leave the job even if who have left their village either pull of migrant workers to the eastern they stay the requisite length of temporarily or permanently (for seaboard or the race of Shandong time, knowing that migrant workers example, migrants in search of work migrants to the south to avoid the rarely have the time or money to or women who marry outside their northeast. But the higher jurisdic- take legal action to regain lost pay. villages). In these types of cases, tion’s minimum wage is actually not a when the village distributes funds wage floor, but a ceiling. A province’s Migrant workers also may face ob- from collective assets, such as com- minimum wage, for example, does stacles to placing their children in pensation for the government’s not prevent a county or city in the public schools (see Chapter 4 on requisition of village-owned land, province from setting a lower mini- Child Labor). A 2004 report by the the villagers may consider migrant mum. This reasoning turns the basic Congressional-Executive Com- workers to be outsiders and deny idea of a minimum wage on its head, mission on China (CECC) states:31 them their share.32 provoking yet another type of “race to the bottom” among different pro- “Many city governments see migrant Minimum Wage, Working Hours, vinces, counties, and cities to reduce children as an unwelcome and and Effective Wages wages in order to attract investors. expensive nuisance, and therefore China’s national law provides that Many analysts suggest that the so-

Discrimination in the Workplace called minimum wage is really a and 432 hours per year. But loop- conducted by the Guangdong labor maximum wage. One study notes:34 holes in the law create exceptions department found that 85 percent of based on waivers by local authorities, the 26 million migrant workers in “The very large difference in wages “special circumstances,” the “special the province work 10 to 14 hours between regions in China effec- nature” of a company’s production per day and that half work seven tively pits them against each other processes, and other spurious factors. days per week.36 to attract investment and new Companies use these loopholes to industry. . . . For example, the force workers to perform massive Unfortunately, workers do not nec- minimum wage of a city near overtime labor under threat of dis- essarily receive overtime pay for 48 35 Guangzhou is Rmb 300 [about missals or wage penalties. A survey their extended hours. The official

CHAPTER 3 $39], which is much less than the provincial government’s recently adjusted standard in Guangzhou of Rmb 480 [about $63]. This creates an incentive for a foreign enterprise to abandon Guangzhou and move to the [low-wage] city to build a factory and continue its business. . . . Pressuring minimum wages downward happens in various regions across the country, not only in the Pearl River Delta. . . . Frankly, none of the regional governments will admit . . . that they do it. . . . The so-called minimum wage has become a maximum wage.”

Many migrant workers are also forced to work excessive overtime hours. China’s labor law specifies a normal workday of eight hours and a workweek of 40 hours. The legal maximum overtime limits are three hours per day, 36 hours per month,

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I minimum wage ranges from approx- A recent survey found that it is common for workers in export imately 300 to 600 Rmb per month factories to work up to a total of 360 hours per month, the equiva- ($36 to $72 per month or 21 to 42 lent of 11.5 hours per day, every day of the month. cents per hour, based on a standard 40-hour day and five-day week), depending on regional differentials, “[T]he wages cited for China do temporary ban in Beijing on all with higher minimums in urban not reflect the hourly wage in non-essential decorating work, left centers. Even at the $72 minimum Chinese factories, as employers thousands of workers laid off or wage, workers putting in more com- make the workers labour for illegally temporarily unemployed.38 49 mon 12-hour days with unpaid over- long hours—up to 70 hours a time, on a five-day-per-week basis, week—to obtain the monthly legal In addition, the SARS crisis exacer- CHAPTER 3 or 260 hours per month, would see minimum wage. When these addi- bated negative attitudes toward mi- their actual pay reduced to 28 cents tional hours are taken into account, grant workers, partly because Chinese per hour. wages in China are lower than else- citizens mistrusted outsiders, but also where in the region, often lower because government policies targeted One survey found, however, that “it even than those in Cambodia and the migrant and rural population as is common for workers in export Vietnam, two countries that are being the main avenue for the poten- factories to work up to a total of 360 poorer than China. The funda- tial spread of SARS. Increased restric- hours per month, the equivalent of mental cause, we think, is China’s tions on migrant travel, as well as 11.5 hours per day, every day of the household registration [hukou] heightened surveillance and moni- month.” Even applied to the highest system, which is central to the toring of migrant residences and minimum wage of $72 for a standard maintenance of cheap migrant workplaces, encouraged many urban workweek, a 360-hour month with labour.” residents to believe that migrants unpaid overtime amounts to 20 cents carried the disease.39 per hour pay, lower than the lowest SARS and Migrant Workers minimum wage. Moreover, employers In 2003, migrant workers also bore Case Studies may doubly penalize workers by forc- the brunt of the economic impact Employers often violate migrant ing them to “rework” flawed produc- from Severe Atypical Respiratory worker rights with impunity. They tion pieces—the workers are not paid Syndrome (SARS). For quarantined know that migrant workers are at the regular piecework rate for work workers who were barely earning unaware of their legal rights, unfa- performed, plus they are not paid for poverty level wages, periods of miliar with legal claims and proc- the overtime hours required to forced, unpaid unemployment esses, and fearful of losing their jobs. rework the pieces. Analysts Peter caused a precipitous drop in family “Most migrant workers don’t have Alexander and Anita Chan summa- income. The crackdown on SARS much education,” explained Ning rize the situation: 37 at construction sites, coupled with a Jiaxin, a migrant worker advocate in

Discrimination in the Workplace Tangxia. “They have no sense of the breathing disorders among work- ployment bond to be forfeited if law. They don’t know how to protect ers. The plant operated on a piece- workers leave early. themselves or where they should go work pay system, giving each when they’re in trouble.” 40 worker a required daily production The press reported more examples quota that was impossible to meet of migrant worker rights violations: Chinese researchers from the Beijing in eight hours. They had to work I Many migrant workers are hired Dajun Economic Observation and overtime to meet their quota but without a written employment con- Research Center conducted case received no overtime pay. The tract, in clear violation of Chinese studies of migrant workers in several employer fined workers for late- labor law. In Zhejian Province, 50 SEZ factories. Published in 2004, ness, carelessness, not following another center of SEZ factories

CHAPTER 3 their interviews brought to life the instructions, poor quality, and near Shanghai, a 2003 report from reality of the discrimination that other supposed work rule viola- the official Xinhua news agency migrants face in the workplace.41 tions, even though such monetary found nearly 2 million workers I A 32-year-old worker in a Tai- fines against workers are illegal. employed without individual labor wanese investor-owned garment I A worker said that he had to bribe contracts. In one factory center in factory told researchers that he managers and supervisors to get Wenzhou, 80 percent of employ- works on average 13 hours per day. jobs in export factories. He said ees had no contracts. Nearly all The worker said that the company that a manager told him and were migrant workers.42 seized and held his and other mi- co-workers openly, “The owner I Workers at Ningbo City factories grant workers’ employment permits doesn’t pay me enough, so where told reporters, “We have been to prevent them from leaving. The can I get the extra money? From working here more than two years employer told workers the permits you, the workers.” and we don’t have the slightest would be “lost” if they tried to I Young women workers in a Tai- idea what an employment contract leave—meaning they could not find wanese-owned apparel factory looks like. Our wages, they depend other jobs. Asked why migrants did told researchers that they labor on how much the boss feels like not bring legal action against this from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. to paying. . . . What can we do about unlawful practice, the worker re- complete their production quotas, unpaid wages? Well, nothing.”43 plied that it was “useless” because with no overtime pay. Asked why I An apparel company in Chepo- government agencies do not they stay on the job, they replied shi’ershe Industrial Area of Guang- enforce the law. that their labor contract calls for zhou City forced migrants to I A 24-year-old worker in a Tai- three years’ employment and the work overtime. According to a wanese-owned plastics factory told employer would fine them if they worker who had been employed at of working 12 hours a day, seven left early. Moreover, they said, the the factory for four years, workers’ days a week, in hot, exhausting company withholds two months’ shifts went from 8:00 a.m. to noon, conditions that caused widespread pay per year as an additional em- then 1:30 to 6:00 p.m., then 7:00 to

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 10:00 p.m., and often past mid- Workers at Ningbo City factories told reporters, “We have been night. The employer admitted that working here more than two years and we don’t have the slightest she had not signed contracts with idea what an employment contract looks like.” more than 50 workers and said, “Employees are allowed to have one day to rest every month.” 44 Is the Hukou System Changing? charging extortionate fees for permits Some emerging signs suggest that and other documents that migrants Death at Bainan aspects of the hukou system are being need in order to move and find work. In 2002, 19-year-old migrant work- modified, albeit haltingly and with It is unclear how the new regulations 51 er Li Chunmei, who was employed local and regional differences. The are being implemented or enforced. at the Bainan Toy Factory in Song- CECC 2004 annual report noted CHAPTER 3 gang making stuffed animals for ex- that the Chinese government had In addition, some local schools have port to the United States, died after improved the general treatment of been opened to children of migrant completing a 16-hour shift with no migrants. One important step was workers, and in some cities and break. She had not had a day off for the 2003 abolition of the notorious counties, schools for migrant two months, despite her repeated “Measures for the Custody and workers’ children have been accred- requests to her manager. In the mid- Repatriation of Vagrant Beggars in ited and given assistance. China dle of the night, Li began coughing Cities.” That regulation had allowed Labour Bulletin reports:47 up blood. Her alarmed dormitory summary detention of migrant mates called an ambulance, but Li workers without papers and had “Xiamen in particular has been died before it arrived. given rise to widely publicized cases praised by official Chinese media for of workers’ deaths during detention. its handling of migrant schools and A new term has entered Chinese for The report also cited the Hangzhou its attempts to help such schools the phenomenon: guolaosi, or “over- Public Security Bureau’s elimination register and improve standards. The work death.” A Washington Post of mass dragnet sweeps aimed at city government has reportedly set reporter wrote, “There has been rounding up migrants. In addition, a aside three million Rmb [$390,000] little research on what causes these new national identification card law to raise the standards of migrant deaths, or how often they occur. limits police ability to request iden- schools by training teachers and Local journalists say many of them tification in certain situations.46 improving school facilities and safety are never documented but estimate standards of the premises. Huang that dozens die under such circum- Migrants can enter some occupations Yang of the Xiamen Education stances every year in the Pearl River formerly denied them, such as work Bureau’s development and planning Delta area alone, the booming in hotels. In recent decrees and regu- department stated . . . ‘Our city manufacturing region north of lations, higher levels of government government leadership has recog- Hong Kong.” 45 have ordered local officials to stop nized that a large number of our

Discrimination in the Workplace

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I migrant workers will eventually settle Some hukou reform measures are slowly shifting the existing system down here. Their children’s educa- into a set of officially recognized class divisions based on wealth, tion will affect the quality of our with an urban underclass composed of rural migrants. future residents.’ ”

In what the official press calls “experi- China’s Labor and Social Security In response to the labor shortage, ments,” some county governments Ministry noted the emergence of labor Pearl River Delta area factories have have taken steps to allow migrant shortages of 2.8 million workers—2 reluctantly begun to hire workers workers to obtain urban hukou status million alone in the Pearl River Delta over 30. A manager at Starlite Hold- 52 in localities where they have lived and area—particularly of young female ings in Shenzhen, which makes

CHAPTER 3 worked for a long period. In Shen- workers in factories with low wages, greeting cards for Hallmark as well zhen, for example, a new regulation bad working conditions, and intense as packaging materials for Micro- allowed local residents with rural labor. The report cites the causes of soft, Fisher-Price, and other well- status to change to urban residency the labor shortage as wage stagnation, known brands, explained that it status up until October 31, 2004. lack of protection of worker rights, would be hard to increase wages rapid increase in labor demand, and since profit margins were already so Peng Juan, a 34-year-old migrant economic transition issues.49 narrow. Large-scale companies such worker in Yancheng County, in the as Hallmark, he said, can name their inland province of Henan, received The Pearl River Delta’s falling repu- price or look elsewhere for lower urban hukou status from county tation among migrant workers is not cost production.51 authorities. She also obtained a per- the only factor contributing to the manent job with social benefits at a area’s labor shortage. Many coastal Working conditions in the Dong- fast growing local factory after per- factories are moving inland, not only guan part of the Pearl River Delta, forming “odd jobs” in the area for offering workers employment where companies are notorious for four years. opportunities closer to home, but violations of labor standards, are also improving the rural economy. still miserable. The 50 workers “For me, it’s like a pie falling from Some workers have chosen to stay in employed at the Daojiong Hequn the sky,” said Peng. 48 their home villages to take advan- faux hair factory, for example, “share tage of farm wages that have risen two toilets, sleep eight to a closet- While some experts believe that the 15 to 40 percent during the past sized room in bunk beds and are hukou system will continue to be year. In addition, the Yangtze Delta forbidden to use radios or watch driven by China’s oversupply of labor, region, which has attracted higher television in their dorms in order others note that in today’s China the technology, higher wage enterprises, to conserve electricity.” 52 labor supply is also in flux and varies is increasingly attractive to migrant by region. A recent report issued by workers and foreign investors alike.50

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA Some plants in the area use deceitful cially recognized class divisions based reported that fewer than 3 percent of tactics to attract workers. An execu- on wealth, with an urban underclass migrant applicants usually receive tive at a Shenzhen doll factory told composed of rural migrants.” The legal aid. Local governments often do a reporter that the company prom- commission cautions that many of not have sufficient financial resources ised monthly wages of $100 if busi- the reform measures “merely allow to extend these services to migrants. ness was good, even though it a limited number of relatively well But while some pilot medical projects actually intended to pay only half off rural hukou holders to obtain in western China exclude migrants on that amount. Although most urban residence status by demon- the basis of cost, the more prosperous workers left within weeks, the strating they have a fixed place of southern municipalities have begun 53 factory would replace them by residence and a ‘relatively stable to allow rural hukou holders to buy 53 55 tricking new arrivals. source of support.’” into government-run urban health CHAPTER 3 plans, and the local governments The Pearl River Delta situation These requirements are difficult for sometimes subsidize the migrants’ suggests that the conditions for low-income rural migrants to fulfill. portion of the cost.57 exploitation may be about to dimin- In Nanjing, for example, new 2004 ish. In other parts of China, however, regulations define “fixed place of In spite of the central government’s where new business has not replaced residence” as ownership of an apart- efforts at reform, says the CECC, the closed SOEs, mass unemployment ment or possession of one issued by hukou system continues to facilitate continues to leave migrant workers a work unit. In Hebei Province, discrimination “because it divides vulnerable to abuses of their rights. applicants for local hukou cannot live Chinese society into clear categories Fourteen million are still laid off in rented apartments. Both sets of and provides a convenient method from SOEs. Ninety-five million regulations define “relatively stable for local authorities and residents migrants are seeking work. An esti- source of income” in relation to to identify migrants.” China’s 20 mated 150 million surplus laborers either a professional job or a job that million migrant children are espe- are in rural areas, and 10 million provides income above the govern- cially affected. In some cases, the workers per year enter the urban ment-established minimum wage. 2003 regulations that ordered urban employment market. Every day, Such restrictions are common in public schools to admit migrants thousands of laid-off workers take to other hukou reforms as well.56 have backfired:58 the streets in protest.54 Millions of migrant workers remain “[C]entral government pressure on The CECC warns that although unregistered and cut off from social local schools to admit migrant national and local authorities are services. Although the State Council’s students has led to the extortion of reforming the hukou system, “some of 2003 regulations do not condition additional fees. Sometimes such these measures are slowly shifting legal aid on an applicant’s residence pressure prompts even more creative the existing system into a set of offi- status, the Chinese news media has forms of discrimination. Facing

Discrimination in the Workplace central pressure to admit migrant “Will the household registration develop their own industries, rural children to local public schools, [hukou] system collapse or be rescind- residents may not leave their homes township governments in Ningbo ed in China in the foreseeable future? in the same numbers as in the past, have responded by adopting a ‘sepa- We do not think it likely. The secu- but this factor alone will not end rate but equal’ policy. Local authori- rity minister was emphatic in 2002 discrimination against migrant work- ties have designated one particular about the need to perpetuate the ers. Local political/economic elites public school as the ‘migrant’ school, system: it is ‘an important compo- established over the past couple of replaced the full-time teachers with nent of our country’s administrative decades have a huge economic stake part-time instructors, and redirected system and will exist for a long time. in keeping salaries low, since some 54 local government education subsidies . . . The hukou will not be abolished, of them own portions of the factories

CHAPTER 3 to the schools serving local students.” not now and not in the future.’ ” and receive profits from them. More- over, because the central government’s Other analysts offer similar caveats on Expert opinions vary widely on authority over local governments is reform. “Despite recent revisions to where the hukou system is headed. weak, the impact of its efforts to the Hukou residency system which But all agree that recent develop- improve circumstances for migrant underlies many of the problems facing ments show a country in the midst of workers will continue to be uneven. migrants and their children,” said chaotic change, driven by several Further, migrant workers will not China Labour Bulletin in a recent factors. Migrant workers, increasingly easily overcome decades of prejudice report, “there has been little impact frustrated by their ongoing poverty, from urban dwellers. for the majority of migrants and it is abusive working conditions, govern- estimated that most of the changes ment corruption, and broken social The Chinese government’s own in- and relaxation in the residence permit contract, are beginning to try out grained harsh approach to the hukou system will benefit the wealthy white different ways of defending their issue has not yet disappeared. Witness collar migrants working in larger rights. In areas with labor shortages, the July 2004 arrest of Wang Feiling, cities and not the vast numbers of enterprises may improve conditions a Chinese-born U.S. researcher who migrants working in unskilled manual to attract migrants. In addition, many was studying the household registra- jobs.” Moreover, as in other countries companies that need highly skilled tion system in Shanghai. Accusing competing for foreign investment, the staff may be willing to improve work- Wang of spying and possessing state Chinese government faces the chal- ing conditions to attract university secrets, authorities seized the Anhui lenge of confronting its own vested graduates. Some cities have enough Province native, now a Georgia interest in ignoring employer abuses available jobs to absorb large numbers Institute of Technology professor to maintain an investor-friendly envi- of migrant workers. with a master’s degree from Beijing ronment. Alexander and Chan put it University and a doctorate from the this way:59 Still, the future of hukou is not yet University of Pennsylvania. Shanghai known. As the sending provinces police held Wang in solitary confine-

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA ment for four days and in detention permit system as an indispensable waving national “policy documents.”’ for two weeks before releasing him, tool of social control, particularly of Unless the Chinese government af- expelling him, and barring him from migrants. Although the NPC is cur- fords effective legal protections to returning to China. “My two-week rently considering draft proposals for migrants and ends the social in- nightmare in Shanghai is not only a Law on the Protection of Peasant equalities perpetuated by the hukou persecution for my academic work . . . Rights, similar legislation has been system, discrimination against and punishment for my non-coopera- under study for years without much migrants will continue to create tion with the Shanghai state security progress. Instead, Chinese leaders serious social problems.” 61 police, but also part of a pattern of have favored administrative pro- 55 security police activities that must be nouncements to address the status of The Chinese government’s goal of 60 curbed,” Wang said upon his release. Chinese migrants. As one Chinese maintaining social peace and political CHAPTER 3 critic notes, ‘[Central government] control simultaneously is unrealistic Incidents like these clearly indicate policy attention cannot completely in a turbulent economic environment that fundamental reform of the hukou replace legal protection. Protecting rife with corruption and the abuse system still faces significant obstacles. the interests of peasants requires of those who are generating the The CECC notes: [that] the law give them correspon- country’s wealth. Long-term change ding rights, rather than merely can be secured only through the legal “Guangzhou public security officials letting peasants run around from protection and enforcement of . . . continue to regard the residence place to place seeking protection by migrant workers’ rights.

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Endnotes

1 See “Survey on the Implementation of ‘the Law of Protection of Women’s Rights,’” at http://www.china.org.cn/chinese/zhuanti/241695.htm

2 See Charles J. Ogletree and Rangita de Silva-de Alwis, “When Gender Differences Become a Trap: The Impact of China’s Labor Law on Women,” Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, Vol. 14, No. 69 (2002); Edward A. Gargan, “China’s Great Gender Divide: A Manufacturing Boom in the World’s Most Populous Nation Has So Far Failed to Provide Women an Equal Share of Wages, Education and Political Power,” New York Newsday, April 11, 2004, p. A1.

3 See “‘Dagongmei’ Female Migrant Labourers,” China Labour E-Bulletin, No. 16, March 7, 2004. Available at http://www.china- labour.org.hk/iso/newsletter_details.adp?newsletter_id=106.

4 See Zhou Wenjie, “Migrant Workers Working in Noxious Conditions,” Beijing Youth Daily, July 15, 2002.

5 See World Bank, China Country Gender Review, East Asia Environment & Social Development Unit, June 2002, pp. 14, 18. Available at http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/labormarkets/events/china/readings/oct30/genderengl.pdf

6 Ibid., pp. 14, 16; http://news.21cn.com/domestic/guoshi/2002-09-19/774102.html (in Chinese).

7 See Kathy Chen, “Workplace—A Nervous China Awaits Women of the World: China’s Women Face Obstacles in Workplace,” Wall Street Journal, August 28, 1995, p. B1; http://www.southcn.com/news/community/shzt/women/career1/200403070602.htm (in Chinese). Discrimination in the Workplace 8 Ibid.

9 See http://www.southcn.com/lady/zt/shengcun/zhi/200403021501.htm (in Chinese); http://www.hxdsb.com/news/allnews/2003/04/04/ n20030404120250.asp; Mu Yifei, “Job Fair for Women Failed: Reveals the Embarrassment in Labor Law,” China Youth Daily, December 16, 2002.

10 See World Bank, note 5 above, p. 15.

11 See China Labour Bulletin, “Lay-Offs Hit Women Workers Hardest,” Issue 37, July-August 1997; Chen Ruiji, A Study on Poverty Problems in Cities and Towns During the Economic Transition of China (Economic Sciences Publishing Company, 1999); Cai Fang, ed., A Report on Population and Labor Problems in China in 2002—Employment Problems and Countermeasures in Cities and Country (Social Sciences Documents Publishing Company, 2002); “Women: Second Class Workers,” China Labour E-Bulletin, No. 16, March 7, 2004. Available at 56 http://www.china-labour.org.hk/iso/newsletter_details.adp?newsletter_id=106#2 CHAPTER 3 12 See Elisabeth Rosenthal, “In China, 35+ and Female = Unemployable,” New York Times, October 13, 1998, p. A1.

13 See Anonymous, “Does the Retirement Age Discriminate Against Women?” Beijing Review, Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2003, p. 45.

14 See Zhang Lu, “Discussion on Retirement Age and Women’s Rights,” Chinese Women Movement, May 2002.

15 See Guangzhou Evening News, November 23, 2003.

16 See “Women: Second Class Workers,” note 11 above; Xin Meng, “Gender Occupational Segregation and Its Impact on the Gender Wage Differential Among Rural-Urban Migrants: A Chinese Case Study,” Applied Economics, Vol. 30, No. 6, June 1998, p. 741.

17 See China Woman, March 31, 2003.

18 See http://www.women.org.cn/1304/1.html (in Chinese).

19 See http://www.southcn.com/lady/zt/shengcun/zhi/200403060019.htm (in Chinese). The article was published in 2004; dates of interviews and events recounted in the interviews are not given.

20 See “Women: Second Class Workers,” note 11 above.

21 Ibid.

22 See http://www.women.org.cn/womenorg/weiquan/weiquanshijiao/shijiao/2002/05-14-02.htm.

23 See Su Min, “ACFTU Reports: Current Law Can’t Protect Women Workers’ Rights,” China Youth Daily, February 27, 2004; “Selection of News Articles on Women,” China Labour E-Bulletin, Issue No.16, March 7, 2004; http://www.southcn.com/lady/zt/shengcun/zhi/200403060019.htm (in Chinese).

24 See http://www.southcn.com/lady/zt/shengcun/zhi/200403060019.htm; Nanfang Dushi newspaper, August 24, 2002.

25 See Ted C. Fishman, “The Chinese Century,” New York Times Magazine, July 4, 2004, p. 24.

26 See Philip P. Pan, “Chinese Mines Exploit Workers’ Desperation,” Washington Post, September 9, 2001, p. A1.

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA 27 For information on China’s one-child policy, see Susan Greenhalgh, “Science, Modernity, and the Making of China's One-Child Policy,” Population and Development Review, Vol. 29, No. 2, June 2003, pp. 163-196.

28 See “Migrant Worker Tragedy,” Guangzhou Daily, January 26, 2003.

29 See China Daily, “Sun Zhigang’s Brutal Killers Sentenced,” October 6, 2003. Available at http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003- 06/10/content_168514.htm; Southern Metropolis Daily, “Designer Beaten to Death by Police,” April 25, 2003 (in Chinese). Available at http://news.sina.com.cn/s/2003-04-25/09501015845.shtml. For a chronology of the case in English, see Human Rights Watch, “Censorship in China: Southern Metropolis Daily Article on the Case of Sun Zhigang,” at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/china/beijing08/sun.htm.

30 The “drifters” are commonly called the “three Nos,” corresponding to no personal identification, no temporary residence permit, and no employment permit. 57 31 After China was granted Normal Trade Relations, Congress created the CECC in October 2000 with the legislative mandate to monitor CHAPTER 3 human rights (including worker rights) and the development of the rule of law in China and to submit an annual report to the president and the Congress. The CECC consists of nine Senators, nine members of the House of Representatives, and five presidentially appointed senior administration officials. See Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Annual Report 2004, p. 62. Available at http://www.cecc.gov/pages/annualRpt/annualRpt04/CECCannRpt2004.pdf

32 Ibid., p. 64.

33 The “average local living expenses” level in major cities and export zones ranges from 250 to 350 Rmb ($30 to $42) per month. The highest subsistence level is in Shenzhen, in the Pearl River Delta area near Hong Kong. Beijing is mid-range, at about 300 Rmb ($36) per month. Official minimum wages in these areas range from 450 to 635 Rmb ($54 to $76.50) per month, highest in Shanghai. The minimum wage in Shenzhen varies from 465 to 600 Rmb. Beijing’s minimum wage is 545 Rmb ($66) per month. According to the official regulation, it is 610 Rmb within the SEZ and 480 Rmb outside the zone. The Shenzhen government also announced in May that the minimum wage will increase by 8 percent this year. In 2004, white collar workers in Shenzhen were making approximately $3,400 per year. In compar- ison with migrant factory workers, white collar workers in the Pearl River Delta region made salaries averaging 2,400 Rmb ($312) per month, about four times a migrant factory worker’s wage. See Alexandra Harney, “China’s Answer to Los Angeles,” Financial Times, June 5, 2004, p. 19.

34 See Steven Frost, Labour Standards in China: The Business and Investment Challenge, Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia, December 2002, pp. 27-28.

35 See Hilary Murdoch and Daniella Gould, Corporate Social Responsibility in China: Mapping the Environment, Global Alliance for Workers and Communities/Impact Limited, April 2004, p. 17. Available at http://www.theglobalalliance.org/documents/ChinaReport-web.pdf

36 Ibid., p. 18.

37 Ibid; Peter Alexander and Anita Chan, “Does China Have an Apartheid Pass System?” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 30, No. 4, July 1, 2004, p. 609.

38 See Severe Atypical Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Workers in China: A Preliminary Analysis, Solidarity Center, July 2004, p. 27.

39 Ibid., p. 30.

40 See Philip P. Pan, “When Workers Organize, China’s Party-Run Unions Resist,” Washington Post, October 15, 2002, p. A11.

Discrimination in the Workplace 41 See Guo Yue, “The Current Situation of Chinese Labour and the Resultant Social Problems: Notes from a Survey of Labour Relations in Private Enterprises,” case studies reported by the China Institute of Labor Science, February 14, 2004, at www.dajun.com.cn (in Chinese).

42 See China Labour Bulletin, “1.8 Million Workers Employed without Labour Contracts in Zhejiang,” September 6, 2003. Available at http://www.china-labour.org.hk/iso/article.adp?article_id=4937&category_name=Labour%20Laws

43 Ibid.

44 See Xinxi Times, April 4, 2002.

45 See Philip P. Pan, “Worked Till They Drop,” Washington Post, May 13, 2002, p. A1.

58 46 See Congressional-Executive Commission on China, note 31 above, p. 64. CHAPTER 3 47 See China Labour Bulletin, “Education in China: A Short Introduction,” November 24, 2003.

48 See “Equal Treatment for Rural Migrant Workers,” China Daily, August 14, 2002, cited in the government-run “From China, About China” web site at http://service.china.org.cn/link/wdbank/Show_Text?info_id=2725&p_qry=china%20and%20daily

49 See “Analyzing Labor Shortage and Skilled Labor Shortage,” Labor and Social Security Ministry, September 9, 2004.

50 See James Kynge, “Pearl Delta Loses Allure for Workers,” Financial Times, September 9, 2004, Asia-Pacific, p. 9; Peter S. Goodman, “In China’s Cities, A Turn From Factories,” Washington Post, September 27, 2004, p. A1.

51 Ibid.

52 Ibid.

53 Ibid.

54 See Tim Luard, “China’s Poor Being Left Behind,” BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/3736696.stm., October 13, 2004, p. 2.

55 See Congressional-Executive Commission on China, note 31 above, p. 64.

56 Ibid.

57 Ibid.

58 Ibid.

59 See China Labour Bulletin, “Education in China: A Short Introduction,” note 47 above; Alexander and Chan, note 37 above.

60 See Shelia M. Poole, “Tech Prof Contests China’s Spy Charges,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 19, 2004, p. 3A.

61 See Congressional-Executive Commission on China, note 31 above, p. 65.

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA

CHAPTER 4

Child Labor

hina has ratified ILO business licenses of establishments UN and ILO standards. Still, as in Convention 138 on the that illegally hire minors. every country, analysts must examine CMinimum Age for Ad- the relationship between law and mission to Employment and ILO The 2002 regulations introduced practice and the effectiveness of labor Convention 182 on the Worst Forms more detailed civil and criminal law enforcement to ascertain whether of Child Labor. China also has ratified penalties for child labor violations. international standards are respected. the UN Convention on the Rights of Labor authorities can fine an institu- the Child. tion or individual 5,000 Rmb ($650) Forward to the Past per month for each child laborer ILO Convention 138 sets varying employed. Employers who fail to Most analysts agree that child labor 59 ages for commencement of work by inspect ID cards and maintain per- was rampant in pre-revolutionary young people. Age 16 is the standard sonnel records are subject to a fine of China and that government policies CHAPTER 4 minimum for full-time work (age 18 10,000 Rmb ($1,300). Certain viola- during the socialist period greatly for industrial or hazardous labor), tions, such as the death of a child, reduced it. The Chinese government with carefully defined exceptions for carry criminal liability. maintains that the country does not part-time work and for developing have a widespread child labor prob- countries. Convention 182 defines China’s laws and regulations impose lem and that the majority of children “worst forms” of child labor as an affirmative duty on employers to who work do so at the behest of their bonded or other forced labor, child ensure that workers are at least 16 families, particularly in impoverished labor in sex or drug trade, and “work years old.1 In addition, they require rural areas, to supplement family which, by its nature or the circum- employers to maintain personnel income. While very little empirical stances in which it is carried out, is records. Institutions and individuals data are available, lax enforcement by likely to harm the health, safety or have a legal right to report violations provincial and local officials appears morals of children.” of the regulations that prohibit child to be widespread.2 labor. The ministries of Labor and China’s 1994 National Labor Law Social Security, Industry and Com- However, the authoritarian political and 2002 Regulations on Prohibiting merce, and Public Security share culture makes child labor hard to the Use of Child Labor forbid the responsibility for implementing and assess and document comprehen- employment of children under 16 as enforcing the child labor laws. sively. As China Labour Bulletin well as hazardous labor between 16 points out, “the practice has not been and 18. The law specifies administra- In sum, China’s child labor laws and eradicated and indeed appears to be tive review, fines, and revocation of regulations basically comply with on the increase,” cautioning that “the

Child Labor

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I extent of child labor remains difficult Researchers for a television program on child labor in Jiangxi to assess due to a lack of official Province found hundreds of child workers in enterprises of all types, reporting on cases and the lack of transparency in statistics in China along with the existence of organized child labor recruitment gangs. more generally . . . in the majority of cases, the existence of child labor is lish the existence of a child labor Children often work under abusive not discovered.” One study notes, problem in China. According to conditions. An April 7, 2004, report “[T]he availability of a large adult Chinese press reports, child labor in the Life Daily, along with similar migrant labor force, often willing to appears frequently in family busi- reports in other papers, revealed that work long hours for low wages, has nesses, where children, especially the parents of many children, some reduced the attractiveness of child girls, must participate in extensive as young as nine, “rent” them to labor for employers.3 labor. These children often receive flower sellers at a price of 300 Rmb 60 no pay, since they are working for ($39) per month. The children are Nonetheless, some commentators their adult relatives. Businesses such required to sell flowers for 14 hours CHAPTER 4 say, many child workers aged 12 to as restaurants and barbershops are every day. They have strict sales 15 migrate to the southern coast and mostly owned by families and indi- quotas. If they fail to meet their Guangdong, often with their parents, viduals, who frequently hire their quotas, their employers physically and end up working in the special relatives to work. The People’s Daily abuse them.7 economic zones, using false identity reported on December 20, 2002, papers. An investigation found that that a 15-year-old girl was working Child labor is also a problem in the “the numbers of children working in full-time at her aunt’s barbershop manufacturing sector. Researchers for export-oriented factories is difficult for 200 Rmb ($26) a month.5 a China Central Television program to establish because both the workers on child labor in Jiangxi Province and the employers make efforts to A January 8, 2003, Workers Daily found hundreds of child workers in conceal their ages.” According to investigation revealed that children enterprises of all types, along with the Hong Kong news reports, instead of between the ages of 13 and 15 were existence of organized child labor acknowledging the lack of adequate working in private businesses, mostly recruitment gangs. According to information, officials at the labor in the service sector. In Kunming, for some reports, the Zhejiang and ministry “claim that no government example, reporters visited 20 work- Fujian provinces, located in China’s figures are available because child places and found 12 workers under southeast region where foreign direct labor is not a problem in China.” 4 16. Reporters asked two girls, one 15, investment is heavy, are also regions the other 16, about their wages. The with large numbers of child laborers, Even without official statistics, girls said that they made the very low many of them 13 or 14 years old. In however, ample reporting from wage of 350 Rmb (about $45) per July 2003, Fujian provincial authori- many sources is sufficient to estab- month, plus housing and meals.6 ties issued new child labor regula-

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA tions after local authorities found “During the Chinese New Year cele- “A young woman from Anhui hundreds of children working in brations, Cai Jie worked more than Province, who did not wish to be coastal region factories.8 14 hours a day, locked in a small identified, claimed she assembles room with other teenage girls in a Mattel-brand Barbie dolls at a large Many children get jobs in China’s factory where they glue the soles of factory in the city’s suburbs, for the coastal regions by using fake, bor- sneakers headed for store shelves in equivalent of $3 a day. rowed, or stolen ID cards that falsify the United States. their age. Many employers are pre- “ ‘We live at the factory, in very pared to ignore the law to meet “ ‘They always make more work for cramped dormitories,’ said the 15- production deadlines. When the us over the holidays,’ said the 13- year-old. ‘The managers are cruel labor bureau in Nanhai City, Guang- year-old, who dropped out of school and tell us we’ll never see our fami- dong Province, looked into the a year ago to work in the factory. lies unless we work harder. I don’t problem of the use of fake ID cards ‘It’s busy this time of year and the like it very much.’” 61 to get work, it found that more than managers don’t care.’ 80 percent of employers felt that Speaking to a U.S. journalist in CHAPTER 4 their job was to maintain production “Cai, who makes roughly 20 U.S. 2002 on condition of anonymity, and that fake ID cards were not their cents an hour, said the hours are an official with the provincial labor concern, as long as production dead- long and the smell from the chemi- bureau in Shenzhen explained that lines were met. One employer told the cals in congested assembly rooms factories hire children because they Workers Daily, “For every piece pro- makes some workers faint. can be paid less and worked much duced by an adult worker, I have to harder than older, more experienced pay one dollar while I only have to “‘Lots of girls get sick, from the workers, who are likely to complain pay a child 70 cents. Children’s food chemicals. When they get too sick over low wages. “When government and lodging costs are also cheaper.” 9 to work, the bosses send them home officers or foreign business execu- without money,’ she said. ‘Last year, tives come to inspect the factories, Although systematic, sector-by- there was a fire and some of the the managers are tipped off before- sector analysis is lacking, apparel, workers died.’ hand, and underage workers are footwear, and toy manufacturing sent home,” he said. “It’s a game appear to be industries where chil- “Many of the child workers come to them, when the bosses come to dren work in large numbers. The from other provinces and live check the factories they make every- evidence, albeit anecdotal, is disturb- under systems that prevent them thing look good for the inspection. ing. One news report brought home from leaving the factories and But after they leave it’s back to the reality of child labor in an export shantytown complexes where they business as usual.”11 factory in Dongguan:10 live and work.

Child Labor

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Education and Child Labor In Fanglin village, Jiangxi Province, a deadly explosion killed dozens of third graders who were making fireworks in their China ranks nearly last in the world in per capita expenditures for educa- elementary school. tion. While schooling is compulsory and is supposed to be free for the first raise money from the peasants—for never gone to school and that 60 nine years, the government has example, through road tolls and land percent of those between 12 and 14 reduced its subsidies to local schools. theft. In addition, some local compa- were also employed illegally.14 In In September 2003, the UN Special nies that own services such as water many areas, migrant workers’ chil- Rapporteur on the Right to Edu- make deals with friends in the local dren do not even have legal access to cation visited China and reported its CCP government to shut down the local public schools. Some migrant failure to provide education to many local well or otherwise force the rural workers have set up their own private 62 children of migrant workers. The villagers to buy their water and/or schools in response. Special Rapporteur said that the other services from the company. CHAPTER 4 recent privatization of fees for public Sparse funding also has resulted in education compels parents to pay In some cases, local authorities wage arrears for teachers. Teachers nearly half the costs of schooling, routinely charge education fees to may thus ask for payments directly often amounting to a month’s pay parents. Although these practices from families, adding to the financial each term, as well as additional costs vary from community to community, burden that parents must assume to for books, uniforms, and other items. they collectively decrease the average keep their children in school. Wage Rising costs make education inacces- farming family’s income and drive arrears also prompt teachers’ migra- sible to many children.12 many children of poor families, espe- tion to the cities. When the authori- cially those of migrant workers, out ties do not pay teachers’ salaries for Chinese experts concur that the main of school. In one notorious case, a many months, economic need moti- cause of widespread child labor in student committed suicide because vates teachers to move to urban areas rural areas is the lack of funding for he could not pay an $80 entrance to find higher paying factory jobs. education. Sometimes the central examination fee.13 government forces unfunded man- Death in Fanglin dates on provincial budgets, and lo- A November 2003 survey of 7,817 cal authorities make up the shortfall migrant workers’ children, conducted The UN Special Rapporteur also by raising taxes for rural peasants. by the State Council’s National recommended the immediate prohi- Recently, the central government Working Committee on Children bition of children performing manual ordered provincial authorities to and Women, found that 9.3 percent labor at their schools to raise funds rescind some of those taxes, but local of the children interviewed either or to supplement teachers’ pay.15 In governments are finding new ways to had dropped out of school or had March 2001, this type of practice led

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA to tragic consequences in Fanglin children17—spurred massive public The Fanglin explosion was not an village, Jiangxi Province, where a outrage, statements of contrition, isolated case, just the one with the deadly explosion killed dozens of and promises of reform. In 2002, highest death toll. In 1999 a fireworks third graders who were making fire- new child labor regulations tightened factory in Sanshi Pujin township, works in their elementary school. rules and strengthened penalties. But Anhui Province, exploded, killing although fireworks production was 14 persons. Among the dead were With nearly $160 million worth of removed from schools, children were 11 child workers between 8 and 13. fireworks sales to the United States not removed from fireworks factories The explosion occurred on the second in 2003, China accounts for more or from factory work countrywide. story of a building being used to than 95 percent of U.S.-imported produce fireworks without a permit.18 fireworks.16 The county surrounding Fanglin is a center of fireworks manufacturing in China. 63

Local government policy promoted CHAPTER 4 working instead of learning in school. Cutting resources for education, the government spurred schools to take on business ventures to raise funds. It also exempted school-based production from taxes, inducing local factories to move production into schools.

In Fanglin, local fireworks manufacturers paid teachers to have their students insert fuses and detonators into large firecrackers. The students, who were not paid, had to meet production quotas before they could go home. Parents complained of the practice to local officials but received no response.

The explosion—which took the lives of more than 40 victims, almost all

Child Labor

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I In October 2003 an explosion in a In 2000, worker rights advocates affiliated with the Hong Kong fireworks factory located in a small Christian Industrial Committee reported that McDonald’s Happy village in Hunan Province killed a 14-year-old boy and injured nine Meal toys were being produced by a supplier that employed child other students under 15 who were labor from mainland China. helping factory owners fill an urgent order. One child lost both arms and children. How could I work in the day peeling pineapples. Miss Chen, was badly burned. The next day, one factory under-aged? Borrow others’ 13 years old, comes from the village of the co-owners committed suicide ID card of course. It’s common. I of Aijichili in a suburb of Nanning by drinking pesticides.19 used my sister’s ID card. She’s 17 City. She said that after working six years old.’ consecutive days in the plant, her right hand becomes red, swollen, McDonald’s and Child Labor 21 64 “‘Why did I come to work in the and infected. In 2000, worker rights advocates affil- factory? My family is poor. My

CHAPTER 4 iated with the Hong Kong Christian parents can’t even raise us, three In a Japanese wholly owned garment Industrial Committee (HKCIC) brothers and sisters. What are the company in Shanghai, a journalist reported that McDonald’s Happy toys we are making? Hello Kitty received a note from a young girl Meal toys were being produced by key rings. I pull the thread through. working there. The note said, “The a supplier that employed child labor I work till midnight every night. workload is heavy and wage is too from mainland China. Simon Mar- It’s very tiring. Have I ever cried low. I get only 100 Rmb ($13) [per keting, the supplier, had entered into for this? Tell me who in this factory month, one-third of the lowest an agreement with City Toys, a sub- hasn’t cried?’” minimum wage] after working four sidiary of Pleasure Tech Holdings, to and a half months. The accommoda- produce Snoopy, Winnie the Pooh, More Reports tion is also bad. The food is not and Hello Kitty toys. Children as clean, there is no drinking water and young as 14 were earning $3 for 16 A review of news reports confirms no water to do laundry, but they hours of work each day. During a site ongoing use of child labor in China. deduct lots of utility fees from our visit, HKCIC members interviewed For example, hundreds of children wages every month. Ten to twenty factory workers. Xiao Ching, a 14- work in privately owned canned people live in a room. Please help us year-old girl, said:20 food companies in Nanning City, and please keep this confidential.” Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Some of the girls are only 14 years “‘I came from Gun-Zhi High Region. The average age of these old, but they have to begin their work School. I have not finished my high child workers is 13, and the at 8:00 a.m. and end at 9:00 p.m., school to work here. I came here a youngest is only nine. They earn with one hour at noontime and few days after the batch of 160 9 Rmb (approximately $1) per without any weekends and holidays.22

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA On July 10, 2001, 17-year-old Liu deal with the problem of child labor remittances that their children Li died of heatstroke after working in China. Incidents such as the would be able to send to them.25 continuously for 16 hours in a hot Fanglin fireworks disaster show that apparel shop in Wuhan City. While the government is unresponsive and According to some reports, women Liu Li was not a “child worker” that no organized force—including and girls are also trafficked into and under international standards, she the ACFTU—is acting as a watch- out of the country. Women and girls shared the same working conditions dog for worker rights. from Burma, Laos, North Korea, with 12- and 13-year-old girls in a Vietnam, and Russia were trafficked cramped, tenement-style sweatshop. Trafficking of Children into China either to work in the sex As China Labour Bulletin described trade or to be forced to marry Chi- the situation:23 China’s Ministry of Public Security nese men. Human rights groups in estimates that 1,000 children are Thailand say that 12- to 18-year-old “The total floor space was 23 kidnapped and sold illegally each girls from southern China, Burma, 65 square metres, in which were year. According to the Chinese press, and Laos are trafficked to Thailand

placed several sewing machines, an during the first six months of 2004, to work in the sex industry. Victims CHAPTER 4 ironing board and an electric iron. in Dongguan City, Guangdong Prov- from Yunnan Province, for example, The room had been divided into ince alone, 33 children between were promised restaurant or house- three separate levels using planks the ages of two and seven were re- hold work in Thailand and then pres- of wood as false ceilings. Beneath ported missing.24 sured or forced into prostitution.26 the workshop was another workroom and above was a kind of attic Most human trafficking in China The U.S. State Department’s 2004 where the employees slept. There is aimed at providing brides or Trafficking in Persons Report notes:27 was just one metre between the sons to lower and middle income makeshift ‘floor’ and the apart- farmers. A minority of cases involve “China is a source, transit, and desti- ment’s ceiling, rendering even the girls forced into prostitution and nation country for persons traf- most basic of activities such as children sold into forced labor. ficked for the purposes of forced dressing an ordeal. In winter, the According to the U.S. Department labor and sexual exploitation. The girls slept in the attic but during of State’s Country Reports on Human domestic trafficking of women and the unrelenting heat of Wuhan’s Rights Practices: 2003 (published in children for marriage and forced summer, they slept on mats on the 2004), children trafficked to work labor is a significant problem. . . . floor of the lower workroom.” usually were sent from poorer inte- Many Chinese are smuggled abroad rior areas to relatively more pros- at enormous personal cost and are These tragedies illustrate the need perous areas; traffickers often forced into prostitution or other for officials at the highest level of enticed parents to relinquish their forms of exploitative labor to repay government to acknowledge and children with promises of large their debts.”

Child Labor The report goes on, “China does not efforts to do so. The Government improve law enforcement training fully comply with the minimum has adopted laws to fight trafficking and victim support services.” standards for the elimination of traf- and is working with NGOs and ficking but is making significant international organizations to

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Endnotes

1 Affirmative duty is a legal obligation to do something. Failure to carry out this obligation will render the person guilty and punishable in a court of law.

2 See U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2003: China, Section 6(b). Available at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27768.htm

3 See China Labour Bulletin, “Child Labour in China: Causes and Solutions,” November 24, 2003. Available at http://www.china- 66 labour.org.hk/iso/article.adp?article_id=5116&category_name=Child%20Labour%20

CHAPTER 4 4 See Hilary Murdoch and Daniella Gould, Corporate Social Responsibility in China: Mapping the Environment, Global Alliance for Workers and Communities/Impact Limited (April 2004), p. 24. Available at http://www.theglobalalliance.org/documents/ChinaReport-web.pdf; Shek Ping Kwan and Trini Leung, “Export Processing Zones in China,” Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee and Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, cited in Murdoch and Gould, p. 24; China Labour Bulletin, “Child Labour in China,” December 31, 2000. Available at http://www.china-labour.org.hk/iso/article.adp?article_id=1620&category_name=Child%20Labour%20

5 People’s Daily, December 20, 2002, at http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2002-12/20/content_665186.htm

6 Workers Daily, January 8, 2003, at http://www.grrb.com.cn/news/news_detail.asp?news_id=113758&type_id=0

7 Life Daily, April 7, 2004, at http://www.dzwww.com/shenghuoribao/shenghuozhongdianxinwen/200404080057.htm

8 See China Labour Bulletin, note 3 above.

9 See Workers’ Daily newspaper, June 6, 2000, cited in China Labour Bulletin, “Child Labour in China: Causes and Solutions,” note 3 above.

10 See, for example, National Labor Committee, “Toys of Misery: A Report on the Toy Industry in China,” December 2001, at http://www.nlcnet.org/campaigns/china/chinatoys01.pdf; Christian Wade, “Child Labor Fuels Billion-Dollar Toy Biz,” United Press International, Financial News, February 25, 2002.

11 Ibid.

12 See U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2003: China, note 2 above, Introduction.

13 See Joseph Kahn and Jim Yardley, “Amid China’s Boom, No Helping Hand for Young Qingming,” New York Times, August 1, 2004, p. A1.

14 See Vernon Yu, “Misery of Migrant Children Exposed: One in 10 Has Dropped out of School and Many Work Illegally, Survey Finds,” South China Morning Post, November 11, 2003.

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA 15 See U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2003: China, note 2 above, Introduction.

16 See U.S. Census Bureau, “Facts and Features: The Fourth of July 2004,” at http://www.census.gov/Press- Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/001798.html

17 See John Pomfret and Philip P. Pan, “Blast Kills 37 Students in China,” Washington Post, March 8, 2001, p. A1.

18 See Ming Pao newspaper, January 13, 1999.

19 See China Labour Bulletin, “Fatal Firework Factory Explosion Kills Child Labourers,” News Review, November 3, 2003.

20 See “USA: McDonald’s Uses Sweatshop,” Associated Press wire story, August 27, 2000; “McDonald’s Toys: Do They Manufacture Fun or More Exploitation?” Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee, August 27, 2000.

21 See Ming Pao newspaper, July 19, 2001. 67 22 See Xinghua news agency report, August 27, 2001. CHAPTER 4

23 See China Labour Bulletin, “In Memory of Liu Li (1984-2001),” September 3, 2001. Available at http://www.china- labour.org.hk/iso/article.adp?article_id=1615&category_name=Child%20Labour%20

24 See Morning News Post, July 15, 2004. Available at http://news.rednet.com.cn/Articles/2004/07/582632.htm

25 Trafficking problems in China are intensified by the country’s one-child policy (See Chapter 3, Endnote 27). Many girls are trafficked to meet the demands of the tens of millions of men who have no one to marry because of the gender differential and because young women are migrating to the cities. See U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2003: China, Section 6(f).

26 Ibid. See also U.S. Department of State, Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2003: Thailand, Section 6(f) (2004). Available at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27790.htm

27 See U.S. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, Country Narratives: China, June 10, 2004. Available at http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2004/33191.htm

Child Labor

CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 5 to theproducts labor.” ofprison ofmeasures relating contracting party adoption orenforcement byany the toprevent beconstrued ment shall “[N]othinginthisAgree- products: ofprison-made may banimports andthatcountries international trade labor shouldnotentertheflo XX thatproducts ofprison its Article T The Worldinternational economy. ventures inthewidernational and laborforprofit-makingof prison Conventiontheuse 29forbids labor. tional standards. violatestheseinterna- China openly in strikes.” a punishmentforhavingparticipated oras as ameansoflabourdiscipline; socialoreconomic system; political, c ideologi- orviews views ing political punishment forholdingorexpress- politic use ofpr IL C Forced I ally opposedtotheestablished ally rade Organization (WTO) statesin (WTO) Organization rade O Co JUSTICE al coer n two coretwo standards on forced Co ILOhina hasnotratified ison labor “as ameansof vention 105prohibits the vnin 9ad15 the nventions 29and105, cio FOR Labor n oreduc ALL I atio CHINA w of n orasa 1 tio Chapter 2o pr hired thugsassaulting workers who discussed instancesofemployer- Beyond thepreviously overtime). Workplace fordiscussion offorced Chapter 3oninthe Discrimination worseemployer abuse(see even are factories compounded by zone workersmigrant inspecialeconomic P Workers inSEZs Forced LaborandMigrant rights standards. rights labor underinter manifestationofforced a classic This is toleave. try reprisal ifthey working and threaten physical are whenthey not their dormitories thugs toco and gangmembers, guards, security thatsome employersindicate use working and threaten physical reprisal if they try toleave. try they working and threaten reprisal physical if are whenthey not confine migrant workerstotheirdormitories andthugs to gang members, guards, Some employers usesecurity I r otested wor oblems ofdiscr n), r epor nfine migrant workersnfine migrant to ts fr n Freedom ofAssocia- king co o m se natio iminatio nditions (see v nal human er al sources n against Management al police. help ofherfatherandlocal Fu wasrescued withthe Eventually, said shewasalmostbeatentodeath. r dispute, [it] should be handled bythe [it]shouldbehandled dispute, isalabor ‘This policesaid, local factor workers hadthoughtofsuingthe Askedwhetherthe them apenny. butwithoutpaying return home, workers from to few thesamevillage Y in toworkher village inafactory ayoung worker from recruited Fu, anyone outside.” “Workers are notallowed tocontact researchers reported. camp,” slave factories. SEZ workersmigrant inseveral Center co andResearch mic Observation ers fr Chineseresearch- In 2001and2002, saces I salvn el”She isalivinghell.” “It esearchers, iwu, om theBeijingDajunEcono- y Zhejiang P , Fu responded, “I didbut the “I Fu responded, , 2 nducted c “The factory wasinfact a factory “The lowed the girl anda lowed thegirl oic,told rovince, ase studiesof involved in exporting laborers tothe inexporting involved Chinese stateagenciesare actively tr emigration istootherAsiancoun- ofthis Much forwork. the country of Chineseworkers out of migrate millions areas, to urban countryside In addition tomoving from the Chinese EmigrantWorkers expensiv possible, ifatall redress wouldbe, state bur toalarge passing offtheresponsibility vaguely offense, acriminal clearly terested indealingwithwhatwas thepolicewere unin- Inthiscase, it. workers may notbeabletofind exists, for posed byanenvironment oflaxen- theproblems This exampleillustrates any helpinthisregard.’” offer wecannot labor department, sm major r Marianas Islands territory.Marianas inthe Northern located Saipan, inU.S.-controlled factories garment tion workers ofChineseemigrant at man Thelate1990s saw also implicated. are territories andU.S. United States ies andtotheMidd cement. Even ifapathtojustice Even cement. uggled Chinesewor y exposésofabuseandexploita- eceiving destinations of e andtimeco eaucracy where securing eaucracy nsuming le East. kers, 3 the As . ulfgr,hl-iue andside half-figure, full-figure, tosubmit—along with applicants elegant” good-looking, healthy, requiredfor Macau “18-28 female, cial adv Oneoffi- workers. sums tomigrating large Theseagenciescharge rers. millionsoflabo- intended toexport China 2001 stateeconomic plan, According tothe rest oftheworld. ertisement recruiting workers recruiting ertisement laac,ntr,andvisa. notary, clearance, health thecostofairfare, include didnot Thisfee work inEngland. matel 70,000Rmb(approxi- butchers tive Anotherprospec- adcharged Fujian. areas and50,000Rmb($6,500)for (approximately $5,000)formost photos—a of45,000Rmb fee y $10,000)tosecure ayear’s Forced 4 Labor

CHAPTER 5 69 Often, conditions for emigrant lished institutions and the respect a vast network of laogai facilities workers are tantamount to forced or for labor standards.”6 producing many items exported to bonded labor, and sometimes they other countries.8 can have fatal consequences. In June Prison Labor 2000, for example, 58 Chinese em- The term “prison labor” is too narrow igrant workers died while being China puts a vast labor force of pris- a term to describe the laogai system, smuggled into England in a truck oners to work in the laogai system. for prison evokes criminal incarcera- loaded with tomatoes. In January Laogai is a Mandarin word that tion. There is ample evidence that 2000, four Chinese emigrants were means “reform through labor,” but many who fill the ranks of the laogai found dead of starvation and dehy- today it has a wider colloquial did not receive a criminal sentence dration in the hold of the cargo ship meaning that refers to the entire and also that many actual criminal Cape May when it docked in Seattle system of forced labor in China. sentences resulted from politically harbor after a ten-day voyage from Official figures put the working pris- motivated prosecutions. Hong Kong. The four were among oner population at more than a 18 workers who had paid smugglers million, but most independent esti- According to the LRF, the laogai $40,000 apiece to be confined in the mates are many times that.7 system in China encompasses a 5 70 40-foot container. broad range of forced labor manufac- The actual size of the laogai system is turing units that include normal CHAPTER 5 Thousands of Chinese migrants a state secret of the PRC, and know- prisons, “reeducation through labor” labor in the United States in virtual ing the precise number of inmates or (RTL, also called “administrative bondage, working to pay off debts facilities is therefore impossible. The discipline” or laodong jiaoyang) facili- incurred for being smuggled into Laogai Research Foundation (LRF) ties, detention centers, juvenile the country. According to one is the leading authority on the laogai offender facilities, and “forced job report, Chinese garment workers in system and is chiefly responsible for placement.” “Forced job placement” New York owed $50,000 to loan most of the data available on the is reserved for convicts who have sharks who paid illegal recruiters, laogai today. The foundation pub- served out their formal sentences and sometimes called “snakeheads,” to lishes an updated Laogai Handbook are considered to still need rehabili- bring them into the United States that contains information on more tation; they are “placed” in the forced illegally. The ILO notes, “The chal- than 1,200 laogai facilities as of 2000, labor system with prisoners who are lenge confronting the global com- with an estimated prisoner population still serving their sentences. munity is to manage migration so of 4 to 6 million. The LRF estimates that it can serve as a force for that since the laogai was established RTL is a sentence of up to three years growth and development, and not in the early 1950s, between 40 and 50 handed down by the Chinese Public lead to clandestine movements and million prisoners have gone through Security Bureau. The sentence also the dangers these pose for estab- the system. The LRF has documented can be extended by one year. It involves

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I no charges or court proceedings of There is ample evidence that many who fill the ranks of the laogai any sort. Amnesty International notes did not receive a criminal sentence and that many actual criminal that the RTL system remains in place and continues to be imposed in con- sentences resulted from politically motivated prosecutions. travention of international human rights standards:9 Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) “Xinsheng Coal Mine of Hunan which was signed by China in Province, also known as Southern “People receiving terms of RTL 1998. In particular, RTL contra- Hunan Prison of Hunan Province, have no right of access to a lawyer venes Article 9 of the ICCPR located in Huangshi, Laiyang of and there is no hearing for them which prohibits arbitrary detention Hunan Province . . . offers cheap, to defend themselves. ‘Sentencing’ and Articles 8(3)(a) and (b) of the abundant labor forces, . . . (cheaper or assignment to a term of RTL ICCPR which prohibit forced or labors are available if prison is usually decided by the police compulsory labour unless imposed inmates are used), relatively low alone, without judicial supervision as a punishment for a crime by a operating costs. . . . Our business is or review. competent court.” a special enterprise, enjoys an amicable relationship with the local “The use of this form of administra- A 2003 report by a non-govern- government and relevant offices, 71 tive detention has increased consid- mental organization (NGO) con- and is a recipient of various prefer- erably in recent years. . . . Although tains a 2001 document (No. 56) from ential policies granted by the CHAPTER 5 recent official figures are not avail- the State Bureau of Taxation under government. We provide a flexible, able, the number is believed to have China’s Ministry of Finance. This harmonious investment environ- further increased . . . due to the document clearly states that if the ment. . . . Xinsheng Coal Mine continuing campaign against the property rights of a company are warmly welcomes both domestic Falun Gong and the ‘strike hard’ solely owned by a prison or forced and overseas investment.” campaign against crime which has labor camp system, the company is continued since April 2001. exempt from corporate income tax Laogai Labor Cases and the land inquisition levy. “RTL contravenes various interna- In a 1996 White Paper, the govern- tional human rights standards, The report includes a translation of ment of China insisted, “China including the Universal Declaration an advertisement designed to attract prohibits export of products made of Human Rights, the UN Body foreign and domestic investment in with prison labour. No competent of Principles for the Protection of laogai production, in this case a Chinese authorities have ever given All Persons under any form of mining company. The ad flaunts the any reform-through-labour unit Detention or Imprisonment, and government support of its operations the right to export commodities. the International Covenant on as a bonus for would-be investors:10 The Chinese Government is very

Forced Labor I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I strict on this point and any viola- Compelling evidence indicates that prison manufacture of products tions of these regulations are dealt for export into the global economy is widespread. with severely.”11

The report goes on: Female Labor Camp. Beijing made me feel, for a very long period Mickey Toys was itself a subcon- of time, that the only thing I needed “In China, products are produced tractor for Nestlé, which used the in my life was sleep.” by prison labour mainly to meet toys for promotions around the needs occurring within the reform- world. The testimony of Jennifer Lanzhou Zhenglin Nongken Food through-labour system. Only a Zeng describes in detail how and Ltd. was established in 1988. In small proportion of such products under what conditions the toy 1992, the company embarked on a enter the domestic market through rabbits were produced:12 joint venture with Lanzhou Dashap- normal channels. Profit from reforming Detention Center and Lanzhou through-labour work activities is “Usually we began work after getting No. 1 Detention Center (also known mainly used for improving the pris- up at 5 o’clock in the morning, and as Xiguoyuan Detention Center). oners’ living conditions, upgrading worked until 2 or 3 o’clock in the According to the report: 72 their common living areas and facili- morning the next day. Sometimes ties and maintaining production.” we had to work overtime, otherwise “Some 10,000 detainees . . . were CHAPTER 5 we could not finish the job. At the forced to use their hands to peel the Despite these attestations, com- busiest time, I did not dare to wash shells off melon seeds, and were pelling evidence indicates that my hands after going to the toilet, engaged in intensive physical labor prison manufacture of products for in order to save a few minutes. At work. Those detainees were forced export into the global economy is night, sometimes I was so exhausted to crack the seeds of a large variety widespread, in clear violation of that I could not even count clearly of melon between their teeth, and international labor standards on from 1 to 9. Yet I still had to force then peel the husk off with their forced labor. my eyes open to knit sweaters. The bare hands to remove the kernels. pattern of the sweater was quite In winter, they had to do this work The 2003 NGO report contains complicated; sometimes we finally outside in the freezing cold. Many detailed testimonials of prison finished the knitting after much of them suffered frostbite and the laborers producing for export- effort only to discover the next skin on their hands split, with pus oriented companies. In 2001, for morning it had been knitted com- and blood from the wounds oozing example, Beijing Mickey Toys Co., a pletely wrongly. So, we had to onto the melon seeds. In the sum- producer of soft toys since 1987, had unpick the stitches and redo it. mer, the cracking and extracting of an order to do handwork on toy Long hours of highly intensive kernels from shells continued rabbits produced at Beijing Xin’an workload and severe lack of sleep unabated. Many had their teeth

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA cracked and damaged from crack- allowed to go to sleep, to wash their using threads to stitch through the ing melon seeds, and even lost their faces or brush their teeth. They holes and the two threads had to be fingernails in the process of extract- were also not allowed to come out pulled and tightened at the end of ing the kernels from their shells. of the compartment to go to toilet the process. After long periods of The detainees were forced to squat and were forced to stand continu- the same repeated tasks, my hands on their heels to do the work from ously for more than 20 days until got mutilated by the threads and early morning till evening for more they became unconscious. These started to bleed. The threads were than ten hours continuously, with people would then have such swol- waxed and prisoners informed me no pay.” len feet that they could not wear that wax is poisonous. That ex- shoes and could not walk. . . . In the plained why both of my hands were The report claims that Lanzhou workshops, where the colored swollen and infected. Due to long Zhenglin Nongken Food Ltd. is patterns are printed, the smell of hours of intensive labor work, a China’s largest producer of roasted chemical paints causes severe irrita- large area of my chest and buttocks seeds and nuts, that its annual sales tion to the eyes and the respiratory began to bleed and ulcerate. Espec- were 460 million Rmb (about $70 system of the practitioners doing ially, in the ulcerated buttock area, million) in 1999, and that it exports the forced labor. . . . In some cases, blood seeped onto my underwear to more than 30 countries. in order to finish the work sent in and tracksuit pants. Every day my 73 by these enterprises, the labor camp clothes were like they had been Next, the report details the relation- would force the practitioners to soaked in blood and water. As the CHAPTER 5 ship between Jinan Tianyi Printing work through the night. For those blood dried up on my underwear Co. and Shandong No. 1 Female . . . who could not finish their and then became wet again, several Labor Camp ( Jinan Female Labor workload, they would have their times a day, the underwear would Camp). It describes the working terms in the labor camp extended.” eventually get stuck onto my skin. conditions within the camps in the This made walking very difficult, following terms: Another testimonial in the report including taking off my underwear comes from a November 2003 state- when going to the toilet. Every “Due to working overtime for long ment by prisoner Lin Shenli: time when I had to force it off, a periods of time, a lot of detainees layer of my skin would be peeled had difficulty standing, and it was “In the labor camp, every morning off as well. At night, I couldn’t sleep very common for someone to faint I was forced to get up to start work properly because I couldn’t lie in the workshop. Those who re- around 6:00 a.m. I was not allowed down. Coupled with the long hours fused to work would be put into a to stop until 9:00 p.m. The work of hard intensive labor, I was ex- ‘confined solitary compartment’ was manual labor, making rubber hausted. If I did fall asleep at night, which was totally dark. The practi- sports balls. It involved using iron it was restless as, if I accidentally tioners confined there were not needles to punch holes and then touched the sore parts of my body, I

Forced Labor would be woken up by the most well as major skin irritations all oners and one toilet inside. They excruciating pain. Even though I over their bodies. Some of the fe- slept and worked in the cell. Some- was in this condition, I was not males stopped menstruating for a times we were forced to work until allowed to rest. I was still forced to few months or even the entire year. 2:00 a.m. to keep up with the work intensively. Through forced There are no hazardous material schedule. They only provided two labor, the cost of the production of suits provided and masks are only meals a day (only once a week you goods in China was kept very low.” assigned to practitioners once. have meat in your food). In other Gloves have never been assigned. It words, being hungry, you still need The report also details working is clearly stipulated that all who to work more than 15 hours per day. conditions in the Shuanghe Labor handle or are in proximity to toxic The police used a wire whip to beat Camp, where prisoners were made substances, must take showers at you if you did not do a good job or to package toxic agricultural fertil- the end of every day. However, you could not keep up with the izer by hand for Qiqiha’er Siyou [prisoners] were not permitted to schedule. During this desperate time Chemical Industry Co. Ltd. The take showers. . . .With the com- in prison, I was always wondering report describes the conditions bined heat, over-exhaustion and who gave them the business and within the camp: sweat (combined with chemical who helped them to abuse us.” 74 dust), skin became very itchy and “The polluted air in this chemical painful. When the sweat evapo- China-U.S. Memorandum of CHAPTER 5 plant is so bad that even from a rated from their skin, a ‘ringworm’ Understanding and distance, you could smell a strong, shaped rash appeared.” Continued Prison Labor rancid odor. Manufacturing work itself is dirty, painful, tiring, and The report appendix contains one In 1992, China and the United toxic. In production, heavy smoke final testimonial of experiences in States signed a groundbreaking full of chemical dust floated around the laogai in 2003: memorandum of understanding the entire production unit, and (MOU) titled On Prohibiting Import settled all over a person’s clothes, “I only want to let you know how and Export Trade in Prison Labor eyebrows, and eyelashes. Even some products from China are Products. Among key MOU provi- wearing a few protective masks, made and why they are so cheap. sions: China must “promptly” inves- [prisoners] were choked from the In prison, I was forced to work on tigate companies that were violating chemical exposure, with nasal export products such as toys and the ban on export of laogai products, passages and eyes becoming swol- shopping bags without pay. I still exchange information on enforce- len. In addition, the agricultural remember one of the shopping bags ment at the request of one signatory, chemical plant is very toxic to was printed with ‘National Gallery share evidence of violations of the people’s health. Some incurred red of Art.’ The cell was only about 300 MOU, and arrange inspection visits eyes and faces, chapped hands, as square feet in size, with 20 pris- by “responsible officials.” Specif-

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I ically, the MOU allowed for U.S. “In prison, I was forced to work on export products such as toys and officials to conduct such inspec- shopping bags without pay. I still remember one of the shopping tions—but only U.S. diplomats, not human rights experts or other bags was printed with ‘National Gallery of Art.’” experts joining inspection groups.13 repeated requests to see the others Violations were so blatant and Prior to his election as U.S. Presi- have been rejected. . . . . We have enforcement was so lax that it took dent, Bill Clinton stated plans to link repeatedly encountered Chinese amateur detective work by a U.S. China’s continued Most Favored delays in providing responses to our businessman to expose one of the Nation trade status (now called requests for visits, and their investi- worst cases of prison labor on prod- Normal Trade Relations, or NTR) to gation reports often lack detail.” ucts exported to the United States. progress on human rights. Sub- The owner of Gem Office Products, sequently, China essentially scoffed In 1994 the Clinton administration a binder clip manufacturing firm that at the MOU and its commitments. buckled under pressure from U.S. sourced production in a Chinese The U.S. State Department tried to multinational corporations, giving factory, saw his U.S. sales plummet put the best face on its deal with up its claim to be using trade policy when another company called Allied China to show that the new presi- as leverage to press China on prison International Manufacturing Cor- 75 dent’s tougher policy was getting labor and other human rights viola- poration (AIMCO) began selling results, but department officials had tions. China used its new free pass clips for a fraction of his price. The CHAPTER 5 to concede that results were far to ignore its prison labor obliga- businessman “traveled to China and below expectations:14 tions. A 1993 U.S. request to in- returned with videotapes of the clips spect the Dezhou Machine Works coming out of the Nanjing prison on “The overall implementation of the factory in Shandong Province was a truck. . . . [He] climbed into the prison labor agreement has generally not granted until 2000, seven years back of the truck while it was stopped been characterized by poor commu- after the LRF presented credible in traffic and sneaked a look at the nications, slow and cursory res- evidence that prisoners were pro- clips inside” to gather evidence of ponses to investigation questions, ducing diesel engines for export to prison labor production. In 2000, and stonewalling or rejection of the United States. When the AIMCO pled guilty to importing request for visits. . . . We have Chinese government finally let U.S. into the U.S. market millions of presented 31 cases of suspected officials inspect the factory, the paper binder clips assembled by prison labor violations to the U.S. inspectors found that it was forced labor.16 Chinese for investigation. . . . We making only rickshaws for the requested visits to five sites. We have domestic Chinese market and Enforcement of the prison labor visited only one of these facilities, discovered “no sign that U.S.-bound MOU has not improved appreciably the Jinma Diesel factory, while our exports were being made.”15 under the Bush administration. The

Forced Labor U.S. Customs Service has conceded agreements it negotiated with The commission called on the U.S. that it does not have the capacity to the U.S. government.” The government to maintain a list of enforce the agreement fully, saying commission recommended shifting “suspicious companies” suspected of that “the AIMCO case highlighted the burden of proof from the importing laogai products into the . . . a vital aspect of our prison labor PRC to corporations suspected United States, a bonding procedure investigations . . . that is our need for of importing laogai products into to give companies an incentive to reliable investigative leads, including the United States. Specifically, follow the ban, an addition to the those provided by outside sources.”17 it called for a certification based annual U.S. State Department on “good faith efforts” of U.S. country human rights reports A 2002 U.S.-China Economic and companies that import Chinese containing detailed information on Security Review Commission policy products into the United States, laogai facilities, and the appoint- paper on the laogai concluded that as well as more prompt inspection ment of a special counsel devoted the main obstacle to the Customs of Chinese facilities suspected to the prosecution of violators. investigations was that “the PRC is of forced labor.18 None of these recommendations not abiding by the 1992 and 1994 has been adopted.

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 76 Endnotes

CHAPTER 5 1 See World Trade Organization, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Article XX, 1947. Available at http://docsonline.wto.org/gen_browseDetail.asp?preprog=3

2 See “The Current Situation of Chinese Labour and the Resultant Social Problems: Notes from a Survey of Labour Relations in Private Enterprises,” case studies reported by the China Institute of Labor Science at www.dajun.com.cn (in Chinese).

3 See Gareth Walsh, Richard Woods, and Michael Sheridan, “Engulfed by a Tide of Desperation,” The Australian, February 16, 2004, p. 14; Philip Shenon, “Made in the U.S.A.? Hard Labor on a Pacific Island: Saipan Sweatshops Are No American Dream,” New York Times, July 18, 1993, p. A1; Steven Greenhouse, “Suit Says 18 Companies Conspired to Violate Sweatshop Workers’ Civil Rights,” New York Times, January 14, 1999, p. A14.

4 See International Manpower Service: China at http://www.chinesemanpower.com/au.htm, August 31, 2004; http://www.cnwesthotline.com/index.htm (in Chinese).

5 See Marjorie Miller, “58 Migrants Died ‘A Most Terrible Death’ in England; Victims Are Believed to Be Chinese,” Los Angeles Times, June 20, 2000, p. 1; “Man Sentenced for Smuggling in Which 4 Died,” Seattle Times, July 12, 2003, p. B6.

6 See Bob Port, “Inside New York’s Sweatshops,” New York Daily News, July 9, 2001, p. 4; ILO Report, Towards a Fair Deal for Migrant Workers in the Global Economy (2004). Available at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc92/pdf/rep-vi.pdf

7 See Information Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, White Paper—The Progress of Human Rights in China (Beijing, 1996).

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA 8 See Laogai Research Foundation, Laogai Handbook [Database with introduction] (Laogai Research Foundation, 2000). Available at http://www.laogai.org/hdbook/hb_toc.htm; Gordon Fairclough, “Dun & Bradstreet Directory Shows Business of Chinese Labor Camps,” Wall Street Journal, June 30, 1999.

9 See Amnesty International, People’s Republic of China: Continuing Abuses under a New Leadership—Summary of Human Rights Concerns (October 1, 2003). Available at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA170352003?open&of=ENG-CHN

10 See World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, Investigative Report on Forced Labor Products Made by Falun Gong Practitioners in China’s Labor Camps (Part I), 2003. Available at http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/12/12/42953.html

11 See Information Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, note 7 above.

12 See World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, note 10 above.

13 See Barbara Crossette, “China Signs Agreement with U.S. to Cut Exports Made by Prisoners,” New York Times, August 8, 1992, p. A3.

14 See Jim Mann, “Clinton’s Tough China Talk Keeps Diplomats Guessing,” Los Angeles Times, October 6, 1992, p. 6; Winston Lord, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, “Chinese Compliance with MOU Governing Prison Labor Exports,” statement before the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade, House Foreign Affairs Committee, September 9, 1993.

15 See Thomas L. Friedman, Elaine Sciolino, and Patrick E. Tyler, “Clinton and China: How Promise Self-Destructed,” New York Times, May 29, 1994, p. A1; Associated Press, “China Lets U.S. Agents Inspect Plant,” September 12, 2000. 77 CHAPTER 5 16 See William K. Rashbaum, “Chinese Firm Pleads Guilty in Labor Case,” New York Times, March 1, 2001, p. B5; U.S. Customs Service, “U.S. Customs Shuts Down Chinese Company for Prison-Made Goods” (press release), February 28, 2001. Available at http://www.cbp.gov/hot- new/pressrel/2001/0228-01.htm

17 Ibid.

18 The U.S.-China Security Review Commission is a 12-member bipartisan group created by statute in October 2000. Commissioners are appointed by Congressional leaders. The commission’s primary role is to monitor, investigate, and report to Congress on the implications for U.S. national security posed by our bilateral trade and economic relationship with China. See U.S.-China Security Review Commission Policy Paper on Prison Labor and Forced Labor in China (2002). Available at http://www.uscc.gov/researchpapers/2000_2003/pdfs/flabpol.pdf

Forced Labor

CHAPTER 6

A Global Power in the Balance: The Future of Worker Rights in China

hatever the course of realm and in civil society. These “The attraction of doing business in economic and political profound changes have unleashed China is undeniable. The country’s Wrelations in the twenty- powerful new forces that increasingly low labor costs, in particular, enable first century, China will be a major collide with existing institutional companies to manufacture apparel, regional and global power. The ques- structures. Chinese intellectuals, who footwear, toys, and many other tion is: Will China’s power be a force often have led the forces seeking to products very cheaply. . . . At the for advancing democracy, human extend economic reforms to the same time, terrible labor rights and rights, and social and economic well- political sphere, have repeatedly human rights conditions persist being, or will China choose to lead a clashed with opposing powers com- even as China’s economy develops. race to the economic and political mitted to maintaining the status quo bottom, based on political oppression and denying basic human rights. The “Generalizations are difficult, but are and worker exploitation? resulting series of confrontations possible based on evidence of labor have often begun as peaceful mass rights abuse in PRC factories: China is undergoing a twofold trans- protests and ended with violent state I Labor rights violations are so formation. It is rapidly changing suppression followed by long jail widespread in China that viola- from a poor, rural nation in which sentences for the leaders, as in the tions can be presumed to exist 78 peasant farmers constitute the vast Tiananmen Square movement and in every factory until proven majority to an urbanizing and indus- the Liaoning labor protest.1 otherwise. . . . CHAPTER 6 trializing country whose millions of I Although China has an adequate peasants leave their rural villages Today’s Challenges labor law, it is poorly enforced. each year to take up factory work in I China has a virtually inexhaustible new industrial cities. At the same The primary victims of this upheaval supply of migrant workers, most time, China’s party-state monopoly, have been China’s workers. Their of whom are ignorant of their once held in every sphere—in poli- government violates workers’ funda- rights under Chinese law and are tics, in the economy and in civil mental rights in both law and willing to work under any condi- society—is breaking up. A burgeon- practice, a fact widely accepted in tions without protest. ing open market within a highly multiple international arenas. Robert I The Chinese government pro- competitive capitalist economy is Rosoff, an analyst writing for the US- hibits the existence of indepen- transforming the economic land- China Business Council, the leading dent trade unions, leaving workers scape, while the one-party state association of U.S. multinational without representatives who can continues to rule in the political companies investing in China, says:2 discuss violations with manage-

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA

ment. Workers who have tried complex. Recent developments would diminish their power. Even if to form independent unions or suggest to some experts that workers the law guaranteed freedom of asso- lead labor protests have been and their allies have new openings ciation, the current legal environ- imprisoned. they can use to pursue progress, but ment could not support it.5 the value of these openings is hotly “Labor protests are increasing in debated. One expert is pessimistic:4 The ultimate value of these openings China as a result of labor rights will depend on whether they are used abuse, rising unemployment, lack of “We have not seen fundamental as springboards to consistently move a social safety net, fraud by some improvements in civil and political toward winning ever greater measures factory owners, and lack of respon- rights since 1989. . . . The regime of freedom of association, or whether siveness by government officials. continues to deny people the right they serve only as short-term, stop- Often, when workers protest in large to organize politically, and deci- gap approaches that merely relieve numbers, the Chinese government sively crushes any political or reli- popular pressure for change and will arrest and imprison the protest gious movement that challenges its diffuse support for democratic reform. leaders and pay off the workers.” hold on power. . . . [T]he political reforms that we see are aimed at New Responses China has not yet become a nation improving the Party’s legitimacy Within the ACFTU governed by the rule of law, an ideal without allowing any opposition to cited in its constitution. Misallo- take shape.” In the sphere of civil society, the cations of power are institutionalized. state-party control of labor organi- China’s local courts are financed by Others discern opportunities to zation is enforced through the legal 79 local governments that select the create more space for freedom of monopoly of the All-China Federa- judges, pay their salaries, and often association. One analyst notes that tion of Trade Unions. The ACFTU CHAPTER 6 influence the outcome of cases. They the Chinese government is working has traditionally taken a top-down, focus on pursuing their own purposes to strengthen legal institutions, bureaucratic, and reactive approach instead of enforcing national law. systematically reviewing proposed to workplace issues, more aimed at Many judges are poorly trained. Both laws and regulations for consistency workforce control than at worker officials and the Chinese public criti- with existing laws, and experi- representation. Its monopoly is a cize corruption in the courts.3 menting with the use of hearings to gross violation of the basic human promote greater transparency in the right of freedom of association. One must take care, however, not to legislative and regulatory develop- portray China as nothing but a giant ment processes. Unfortunately, the Some elements within the ACFTU sweatshop where all workers and all judicial system is not sufficiently are now beginning to recognize that efforts at worker advocacy are brutally funded, and local governments tend labor law is weak and ineffectively suppressed. Reality is more subtle and to resist structural reforms that enforced. The ACFTU’s own 2004

The Future of Worker Rights in China I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I annual report highlighted discrimi- Under principles of freedom of association, the real indicator of nation in employment, sexual harass- progress will be not the number of contracts signed but the extent to ment, the wage gap between men which rank and file workers have participated in the process and and women, and serious violations of labor law as continuing problems.6 taken ownership of their negotiating role.

A few ACFTU cadres realize that the unions have assumed the responsi- of association, the real indicator of “transmission belt” model of monop- bility of speaking out for the workers progress will be not the number of olistic unionism under government and seeking fair solutions for them. contracts signed but the extent to control is a failure, and thus they . . . We should punish those who which rank and file workers have support a more proactive ACFTU have prevented the establishment of participated in the process and taken role. These groups, which are probably trade unions in line with the law.” 7 ownership of their negotiating role.8 closely linked to reform factions within the CCP, are looking for ways to These departures from the tradi- Government authorities have toler- be more independent of the gov- tional approach can also be seen ated a few “wildcat” work actions. ernment and of employers. They aim in the efforts of a few regional In Wenling City, Zhejiang Province, to act more like leaders of genuine ACFTU organizations, which are for example, 12,000 workers in 113 trade unions that defend the workers pressing firms to sign citywide or privately owned wool sweater facto- they represent instead of lecturing regional framework agreements for ries secured a collective contract them about government policy. collective contracts in different after four years of protests. Begin- 80 industrial sectors to standardize ning in the late summer of 2001, Some ACFTU leaders are becoming wages and benefits for that sector in workers citywide conducted strikes CHAPTER 6 more directly involved with work- the city or region. The ACFTU annually during the busy season. place problems and support the indicates that by the end of 2003, Workers pushed for wage negotia- workers’ position at times, particu- some 672,900 signed collective tions, prompting employers to create larly in foreign-owned companies. contracts covered 1.214 million an employer negotiating committee. An ACFTU division director told enterprises with 103.5 million The local ACFTU organized bar- China Daily in August 2004 that workers, but the extent to which gaining sessions. In October 2004, many private and foreign companies rank and file workers participated in a collective agreement was signed, in China deprive workers of their that process has varied widely. On providing workers with a minimum constitutional right to establish trade September 13, 2004, the ACFTU wage of 800 Rmb ($104) per month. unions and that “workers need unions announced that it intended to cover In addition, a sector-based union more than ever to represent and 60 percent of workers with collective (which differs from the typical protect their interests.” ACFTU bargaining contracts by the year enterprise-based union) was subse- head Wang Zhaoguo said, “[T]rade 2008. Under principles of freedom quently formed.9

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA The ACFTU also claims that it has time advocating for their govern- ample, company and ACFTU offi- been conducting a campaign for the ment to fully honor freedom of asso- cials at the Kong Tai shoe factory, a past four years to hold shop floor ciation in law and in practice. Reebok supplier firm in Longgang, elections at a number of coastal area organized a secret ballot election factories that mostly produce for Multinational Companies of shop floor union representatives. foreign-owned companies. It indi- In October 2002, Reebok and cates that one-third of its 120,000 At a few workplaces linked to global another big supplier firm in Fujian local unions in the Guangdong brand name companies, workers Province conducted a similar elec- Province have held such elections, have chosen their ACFTU shop tion. In both cases, Reebok manage- although the lack of independent union leaders. In July 2001, for ex- ment promoted the vote after verification leads experts to doubt their legitimacy. The ACFTU announced last September that it was working on a law for local elections, to be applied throughout the country. Its discussion of the need for elections is encouraging.

But occasional democratic shop floor elections have not supplanted the predominant method of factory 81 executives appointing managers as union leaders in China. The trans- CHAPTER 6 mission belt model still permeates ACFTU activity, and there is no sign that tight CCP control of the labor movement will change in the foreseeable future. Like other labor- related issues in China, this situation is in flux. The unknown factor is the extent to which workers and their advocates can use the nascent but limited openings within ACFTU structures to increase their defense of existing rights, while at the same

The Future of Worker Rights in China I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I finding that most appointed union The use of codes of conduct can sometimes soften abuses of labor representatives in the largely female standards in selected workplaces without ever calling into question workforce were male managers, white collar employees, and security systematic violations of core worker rights. officials. After sustained lobbying by Reebok, plant management and But some codes provide a loophole bling a union existed at this 1,000- the ACFTU agreed to follow up that allows enterprises to operate in worker factory and that “no effective with an education program for the places such as China, where freedom complaint mechanism was in place.” new union leaders. Independent of association is prohibited. The Follow-up interviews on the re- Hong Kong-based NGOs con- loophole requires only that compa- searchers’ recommendation to estab- ducted the training.10 nies adopt “parallel means” to facili- lish “an effective channel enabling tate worker communication with workers to voice their concerns” While these elections may represent management on employment issues. revealed that the company had taken a step toward freedom of associa- These “parallel means,” generally of only limited action:12 tion, it would be premature to label the “suggestion box” type, are them as a trend. The Reebok elec- demonstrably ineffective in facili- “By the time of the follow-up visit, tions are isolated cases that took tating real worker representation.11 a union affiliated to the local place in two among tens of thou- Changzhou Garments Industry sands of global supply chain work- Moreover, the use of codes of con- Trade Union had been set up, places in China. Most “grievances” duct can sometimes soften abuses of composed of management staff 82 in these two plants have involved labor standards in selected workplaces and workers. It had 95 members harsh treatment by supervisors, not without ever calling into question by January 2003 but only 10 were CHAPTER 6 classic bargaining issues like wages systematic violations of core worker production workers and half were and benefits. The longer-term sus- rights such as freedom of associa- management staff. Its activities tainability of democratic union tion. Perhaps more typical than the since July 2002 when it had been action in these two plants is yet to Reebok example is the case of a set up were the organization of be determined. closely studied supplier to Switcher, a social events. Its composition and Swiss multinational company. Hong mode of interaction with manage- The impact of the application of Kong-based researchers interviewed ment were not clear to the auditors. codes of conduct must also be care- workers at the Wongsheng Gar- The workers were not interested in fully assessed. Many multinational ments factory in Changzhou to joining this union, as they consid- enterprises, for example, have codes assess implementation of Switcher’s ered that it had been set up in a of conduct that call for freedom of code of conduct. On an initial visit, top-down way and were not con- association and respect for interna- they found that contrary to Chinese tacting the union committee mem- tional and national worker rights. law, no union or anything resem- bers whose phone numbers were

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA displayed at different locations to on labor and employment relations, tives. . . . We have inspections of voice their grievances. notably freedom of association and factories, both announced and unan- the right to collective bargaining. nounced. But you just don’t have the “In addition to the trade union, a Although these guidelines are not assurance that things will be the same five-member ‘social compliance legally enforceable, the governments the next day. Factories in China are committee’ had been set up, com- involved have agreed to use their incredibly sophisticated at finding posed of staff members, some of influence to press multinational ways to fool us. The best monitors whom were also sitting on the union enterprises to follow these recom- are the workers themselves.”14 committee. This other committee mendations. Further, in the revised had devised a quite complex griev- Guidelines (2000), language was The recognition of this principle is ance procedure distinguishing added on supply chains to support encouraging. But since the only guar- between minor and major com- worker rights.13 antee of long-term improvement in plaints. Only three grievances working conditions is freedom of (minor) had been reported over Unfortunately, the vast majority of association, codes of conduct can be several months and the workers did multinational enterprises do not effective only if they support and not use the suggestion boxes that follow the OECD guidelines in affirm full freedom of association. had been set up and did not trust their operations in China. The They are not effective if they are used these communication channels. In handful of corporations that have merely to make minimal improve- spite of the sophistication of these tried to influence PRC government ments or enhance a company’s public different procedures, and given the policy in favor of freedom of associ- image. Accordingly, the few multina- attitude of workers, the auditors ation have failed. tionals that have attempted to facili- 83 were not convinced that they offered tate worker representation by holding an adequate solution to the impor- Many companies have instituted elections for worker representatives CHAPTER 6 tant question of effective communi- “independent monitoring” programs, have ultimately not been successful in cation channels between workers hoping that these programs might securing a sustained, democratic, ef- and management.” substitute for independent worker fective voice for workers. representation, at least to the extent The Organization for Economic of guaranteeing certain minimum Legal Assistance Cooperation and Development standards. One company representa- (OECD), an international organiza- tive responsible for “code compli- In some cities and export zones, tion grouping 30 member countries ance” programs publicly noted the legal aid centers outside trade union that “share a commitment to demo- importance of worker involvement structures are taking shape to assist cratic principles,” has developed in the monitoring process. “It’s our workers with claims before courts Guidelines for Multinational Enter- hope,” he said, “that issues can be and arbitration boards. Workers are prises that include recommendations taken up by the worker representa- demanding the application of the

The Future of Worker Rights in China rule of law in labor affairs separate impact on regional or national women were eventually awarded from union organizing. Their worker rights. Some are group cases 170,000 Rmb (about $14,000) in complaints and declarations often with potentially high monetary back wages and compensation after invoke laws and legal rights. compensation. In a 2004 case, for several filings and judgments.16 example, 1,000 retired workers In addition, the government has from the Tieshu textile factory In a few locations, lawyers, clinics, authorized the development of a brought a class action lawsuit against and legal aid organizations also work private bar and has required private the Suizhou City Social Insurance to increase rank and file workers’ lawyers to take on a certain number Bureau for failure to pay pensions understanding of Chinese labor law of pro bono cases each year. To coor- due workers after their forced and worker rights. These groups fax dinate these legal aid cases and to retirement from the plant. Other copies of laws and regulations, dis- handle appeals, the government textile workers announced that tribute informational pamphlets, began to sponsor legal aid programs they would sue the city govern- hold evening and weekend training in 1994, and set up regional legal aid ment for alleged ill treatment sessions in parks and factory dormi- bureaus. Most of the cases handled during their detention by police tory areas, and provide telephone by legal aid bureaus deal with labor in earlier protest demonstrations.15 and in-person legal consultations. law. They address such issues as unpaid back wages, harassment of Several legal clinics have begun to Individual workers can bring claims, migrant workers, inappropriate disci- assist women migrants in filing mostly related to minimum wage pline, employer constraints on claims against employers and local and hour laws, through an estab- 84 worker mobility and free exit, unsafe labor bureaus. In one case in Beijing, lished mediation and arbitration working environments, and indus- 24 migrant women workers from process; sometimes these workers CHAPTER 6 trial accident compensation. Legal Laishui County, Hebei Province, prevail. In a few locations, laid-off clinics devoted to labor law and who worked for Beijing’s Hua Yi workers deprived of pensions and women’s issues, some university- garment factory from 1995 to 1997 severance pay in industrial restruc- affiliated clinics, and law school clin- sought help from the Peking Uni- turing are creating formal and ical training programs supplement versity Center for Women’s Law informal associations to help one this work. While these developments Studies and Legal Services when another and to seek justice from are a positive step, the demand for their employer withheld their wages. authorities. lawyers who are available to workers The company forced the women to far exceeds supply. work overtime under extremely harsh The fact that some workers can use conditions, and managers routinely the legal system to rectify violations A small number of cases filed are beat and insulted them. With the of their rights is good news, but designed to obtain decisions with help of the legal aid attorneys, the changing the system requires far

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I more than worker centers based in The lack of basic civil and political freedoms means that the migrant communities, legal clinics, normal mechanisms through which civil society ameliorates and NGOs assisting workers can achieve. As one expert notes:17 labor abuses are absent.

“The causes of authoritarian re- China notes, “[T]he lack of basic As a result, explosive grievances accu- silience . . . include . . . building of civil and political freedoms means mulate unresolved; the 150,000 to channels of demand and complaint that the normal mechanisms through 200,000 legal practitioners who must making for the population, such as which civil society ameliorates labor cover all areas of law are inadequate the courts, media, local elections, abuses are absent.”18 to meet the needs of 800 million . . . and letters and visits depart- workers.19 The festering claims for ments, which give people the In any case, the legal and adminis- billions in wage arrears, for better and feeling that there are ways to seek trative frameworks for productively safer working conditions in industries relief from administrative injustices. channeling private enterprise indus- where thousands die every year, for These institutions encourage indi- trial strife and managing the closure social security in retirement, and for vidual rather than group based of state-owned enterprises remain full enfranchisement of migrant work- inputs, and they focus complaints inadequate. Legal aid cannot keep ers threaten social stability and under- against specific local level agencies up with a private sector of millions line the strong need for a system of or officials, without making of independent employers and other independent worker and employer possible attacks on the regime. actors, all autonomously and vigor- institutions, capable of voicing, nego- Thus they enable citizens to pursue ously pursuing their own private tiating, and solving the grievances 85 grievances in ways that present no interests. The legal aid programs for and interests of their constituents. threat to the regime as a whole.” labor law are poorly funded. More CHAPTER 6 legal aid funding is allocated to Press Reports Exclusive reliance on legal strategies criminal than to civil matters, and on Labor Issues can actually retard genuine inde- the high volume of labor cases must pendent trade union development divide what remains with other civil China’s government grants some and entrench the government-run concerns such as women’s rights, leeway to newspapers and magazines union system. Moreover, it does not divorce, and rural land issues. Poor for investigations and exposés of provide an efficient means of solving enforcement of judgments, lack of worker rights violations, especially in labor disputes in a cost-effective and legal clarity in the law, expense, foreign-owned firms. One expert timely manner. One analyst who delays, and other ongoing troubles notes “a dramatic rise in outspoken promotes corporate social responsi- in the legal system all contribute to investigative reporting relating to bility as an avenue of change in the problem. labor rights,” but adds the important

The Future of Worker Rights in China insight that journalists cannot create U.S.-China Engagement workers who advocate for change” news. Instead, “almost every case of and that the “monopolization of labor rights violations in China’s The U.S. government has a variety of power under a one-party system and private, foreign-invested . . . enter- initiatives with stated objectives the resulting absence of democratic prises has only come to light because aimed at improving the human and accountability have led to wide- migrant workers took some kind of worker rights situation in China, spread corruption and a loss of collective and organized action to including the Congressional-Exec- faith in government.” The USCC’s fight against it.” 20 utive Commission on China (see 2004 annual report notes that Chapter 3, Endnote 31) and the U.S.- China’s “system denies workers’ This development either can lead China Economic and Security rights of freedom of association toward building increased support for Review Commission (see Chapter 5, and collective bargaining, and it worker rights or can jeopardize them. Endnote 18). The U.S. government enforces a system of work permits Media exposés and anecdotal also funds initiatives to encourage that discriminates against rural accounts of progress on the worker different aspects of democratic devel- workers.” Unfortunately, inconsis- rights front do not mean that civil opment and human and worker rights tent application and enforcement and political freedom, including through the National Endowment of U.S. policy send mixed signals workers’ freedom to form organiza- for Democracy (NED) as well as the to both the Chinese government tions of their own choosing and U.S. Departments of State and Labor. and Chinese workers.21 bargain collectively with employers, is All Labor Department programs are just over the horizon. If the govern- official government-to-government On March 16, 2004, for example, 86 ment allows the press to publish programs that require active cooper- the AFL-CIO and 14 affiliated accounts of outrageous abuses against ation with the Chinese government. unions filed a groundbreaking peti- CHAPTER 6 workers merely as a calculated “safety tion with the U.S. Trade Repre- valve” policy, worker discontent and The U.S. government policy sentative. The petition documented public anger can be vented without community agrees that China’s labor how China’s repression of worker ever bringing long-term change. practices violate international stan- rights gives the country an unfair If, however, the increased reporting dards. The U.S. Department of trade advantage over the United represents a shift toward expanding State’s Country Reports on Human States and other countries, espe- freedom of the press, it can become Rights Practices: 2003 catalogues a cially those in the developing a powerful tool for increasing the myriad of ways in which China world, that have suffered invest- knowledge of Chinese workers about violates core labor standards. The ment and job losses. Filed under violations of their rights and pin- CECC’s 2004 annual report reveals Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act pointing opportunities and vehicles that the “Chinese government has of 1974, the petition represented for resolving them. continued its record of violating the first use of the 301 provision to workers’ rights and punishing protest a country’s labor practices.

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I It called on the Bush administra- Almost every case of worker rights violations in China’s private, tion to take immediate action to foreign-invested enterprises has only come to light because migrant impose trade remedies against workers took some kind of collective and organized action to fight China and negotiate a binding agreement to reduce the remedies if against it. China enforces worker rights. But on April 28, barely a month later, visit, Chao also reviewed an safe and healthy working conditions the Bush administration rejected ongoing “Rule of Law” initiative to for Chinese workers. the petition as counterproductive. promote worker rights in China U.S. Trade Representative Robert through education, training, and Next Steps Zoellick stated: “[W]e do not need technical assistance. to conduct a year-long investigation Chinese workers are showing great to know that there are serious con- These programs reflect the current resourcefulness and resiliency in find- cerns with labor rights and working U.S. policy thrust toward “engage- ing new tools for building worker conditions in China.” Zoellick also ment” as “the key to improving empowerment at the grassroots level. reaffirmed the administration’s working conditions.” Toward that But they do so within a straitjacketed preference for leveraging China’s end, the U.S. government continues context of government control and desire to be recognized as a market to make public statements supporting the pervasive threat—often carried economy under U.S. law to address worker rights in China. U.S. Secre- out—of quick and brutal repression. labor and other issues over the use tary of Commerce Donald Evans of trade sanctions applicable under recently stated that “China should Intermediate forms of worker advo- 87 existing law.22 allow independent trade unions to cacy are important and worthy of negotiate pay settlements with their support, although not complete or CHAPTER 6 Some ensuing U.S. initiatives tend employers, thereby allowing wages to permanent solutions. The lack of to be far less direct in approach. On rise more naturally.”23 basic civil and political freedoms is a June 21, 2004, during a visit to violation of fundamental human China, U.S. Secretary of Labor Many experts on China and labor rights. Corporate responsibility and Elaine Chao signed four letters of issues find it highly questionable that international pressure by themselves understanding with China. In part, trips, educational exchanges, and cannot guarantee basic civil and polit- the letters pledged to share more rhetoric alone can bring about ical freedoms. The only true remedy information on improving labor systemic change in China. The scope for the lack of civil and political standards related to the develop- of this type of assistance is limited. freedom is civil and political freedom. ment and enforcement of employ- By avoiding key worker concerns, it ment, benefit, and workplace health falls far short of what is needed to China’s worker rights violations and safety standards. During her guarantee freedom of association and point to specific problems that have

The Future of Worker Rights in China

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I achievable solutions—through Even if Chinese law is brought into conformity with all compliance, in law and practice, international labor norms, it will not be effective until it is enforced. with ILO core labor standards. The call to resolve these problems is echoed by China’s international employers who commit repeated that ILO standards on the right commitments and the voices of or egregious labor law violations. to bargain collectively are incor- China’s workers. Recommended I Create independent labor courts porated into Hong Kong’s law. measures are cited below. and a mediation system immune from pressure by local government The key to halting labor law viola- Role of the Chinese Government and party officials. tions is consistent enforcement. The Chinese government can adopt I Release and compensate workers Many labor problems in China are the following steps to halt worker and supporters who have been similar to those experienced in other rights violations and ensure respect imprisoned for worker rights countries that have failed to enforce for worker rights: advocacy. their labor laws and international I Bring the law into full compliance I End discrimination against obligations. When labor standards with ILO core labor standards, women workers and migrant are not enforced at the national particularly those on freedom of workers. Grant migrant workers level, in the courts, and all the way association and the right to organ- full protection under Chinese law down to the plant level, the stage is ize and bargain collectively. and in practice, including resi- set for illegal labor cost competition. I Give workers a voice in their own dency rights, so that they can Employers who violate labor laws 88 labor system. End the ACFTU receive benefits and services and have lower costs. Without effective monopoly on worker representa- hold local officials accountable in remedies or sanctions, the incentive CHAPTER 6 tion. Give Chinese workers the places where they live and work. to violate labor law is strong. Em- opportunity to transform the I Improve enforcement of child ployers inclined to abide by stan- ACFTU into a genuine workers’ labor laws and immediately halt dards feel compelled to violate the organization rather than a govern- child labor in schools. law just to stay competitive. Even if ment-run agency, or to select I Stop the forced labor of political Chinese law is brought into con- alternate representation. dissidents and dismantle the formity with all international labor I Strengthen the rule of law and prison labor system. norms, it will not be effective until improve labor law enforcement I Allow the HKCTU to carry out it is enforced. capacity and effectiveness on core its responsibilities as an inde- labor standards. To promote effec- pendent trade union to represent These problems are exacerbated by a tive enforcement, consider im- its members without interference, lack of democracy. In the long term, posing statutory fines—sufficient consistent with ILO principles on only democracy will solve them. Over to serve as deterrents—on freedom of association, and ensure the past several decades, Chinese

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA workers have shown in many ways they can to promote freedom of ment to legally recognize unions as that they are ready to organize if not association and other internationally independent organizations and to barred from doing so. Supporting recognized rights of their Chinese enforce those rights. In their own industrial democracy—trade union employees, especially the core labor factories and other enterprises, with freedom—is key to developing polit- standards contained in the ILO or without the existence of an ical democracy in China. Declaration on Fundamental Prin- ACFTU unit, companies should ciples and Rights at Work.24 permit their employees to exercise Role of Multinational all of their existing rights, including Enterprises Multinational companies should the right to hold workers’ assem- A fundamental tension exists be- publicly call on the Chinese govern- blies, elect representatives, and tween China’s legal and political denial of freedom of association to Chinese workers and the inclusion of freedom of association provisions in codes of conduct adopted by multinational companies operating in China. To strengthen the credibility of such codes, multinational companies have a particular responsibility to reduce this tension by actively promoting greater respect for freedom of 89 association in both law and practice. CHAPTER 6

In the current Chinese political and legal framework, multinational companies with codes of conduct that affirm freedom of association are automatically violating these principles if they are operating in China. In the interest of promoting the growth of global political stability and sustained economic development, companies that choose to operate in China under those conditions should at least do whatever

The Future of Worker Rights in China I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I negotiate and democratically ratify Through persistent and growing domestic and global demand from collective contracts covering wages, multiple stakeholders, Chinese workers will see real advances in the hours, and working conditions, as legal recognition of their rights. provided for in Article 33 of the Trade Union Law of the PRC. Companies should certainly not call interference or observation by man- ployees. Supporting worker rights on government authorities to repress agement and no fear of retaliation. repression in China also makes workers’ attempts to exercise these They should encourage their em- companies contributors to political rights. Further, companies should ployees to select representatives, and instability and the delay of demo- avoid practices that encourage then they should meet with those cratic development in the country. corruption, such as bribing local representatives to negotiate collec- officials to support the suppression tive contracts, as permitted by It is unrealistic to assume that most of workers. Chinese law. Once workers have multinational enterprises working in ratified the contracts, companies China will rapidly and voluntarily Although the limited corporate should respect and follow contract implement these recommendations. efforts to increase support for provisions. Companies also should Those that do not, however, will be freedom of association have thus far encourage the local government to vulnerable; the suppression of been unsuccessful, companies should register the agreements so that they worker rights for profit is short- continue and strengthen their efforts have the force of law. And of course, sighted. Chinese workers will while finding additional ways to companies should not resort to in- inevitably protest the unjust treat- 90 advance the cause of worker rights timidation or pressure, either di- ment and the kinds of abuses that in China. For example, they should rectly or by threatening to call in are common in Chinese factories, as CHAPTER 6 open their doors to Chinese and the authorities. workers have done before them in other NGOs, including labor and China and all over the world, gener- labor support organizations, so that Such efforts would not be without ating pressure from within. Labor, the working and living conditions of risk. A company threatened with labor support, and human rights their employees can be observed, expulsion or the loss of a significant groups committed to global justice and so that workers can be educated contract will likely be reluctant to will also press for change, exposing by outside organizations about their press for change. But if companies do companies’ unfair labor practices to rights under Chinese law and inter- not support freedom of association for the global public. The reputation of national conventions. Chinese workers beyond the realm of companies that do not respect public relations, they are complicit in worker rights will be tarnished Companies also should provide denying Chinese workers their rights among global consumers and civil space in which workers can meet and are choosing to profit from the society. Ultimately, through and discuss their conditions, with no unethical exploitation of their em- persistent and growing domestic and

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA global demand from multiple stake- lead to action-oriented alliances “parallel means” of association, that holders, conditions in Chinese with worker organizations and fail to meet ILO standards on factories will improve, and Chinese unions in those countries. freedom of association. workers will see real advances in the I Promoting the development of I The international union move- legal recognition of their rights. indigenous labor NGOs operating ment must support Global Union on the ground in China should Federation initiatives with indi- Role of Trade Union Solidarity include intensifying international vidual companies that open real Through targeted, cooperative trade union solidarity in support space for legitimate experiments strategies, unions and labor move- of trade union rights in Hong to promote freedom of association ments throughout the world can and Kong; ensuring that democratic in China. must support Chinese workers’ unions in Hong Kong are in- I Finally, it must use every interna- efforts to pursue freedom of associa- cluded in international meetings; tional arena to campaign against tion, the right to organize and bar- and providing technical assistance the suppression of core worker gain collectively, and freedom from to Hong Kong unions’ efforts to rights: promoting broader and discrimination, forced labor, and advance democracy and respect more effective use of OECD child labor. for worker rights. Multinational Guidelines to ex- I The international union move- I Strengthening the global alliance pose the widespread violation of ment must develop a coordinated among worker organizations, labor basic worker rights in facilities approach and action plan based NGOs, human rights groups, throughout China that produce on adherence to the ILO’s Fun- international law organizations, for multinational companies; damental Principles and Rights at academics, and citizens of con- expanding multilateral efforts to 91 Work. It must support ICFTU science who seek to promote basic raise the Chinese government’s efforts to encourage its affiliates worker rights in China is crucial. worker rights violations at the CHAPTER 6 and all trade union organizations To help achieve that goal, interna- various bodies of the ILO; sup- having contacts with official organs tional unions must promote infor- porting the introduction of a of the Chinese state, including the mation flows and partnerships on resolution at the annual meeting ACFTU, to raise worker rights labor in China with universities of the UN Commission for concerns and report regularly to and academics in the United Human Rights that describes the the ICFTU about these contacts. States, inside China (including Chinese government’s systematic In addition, it must promote a Hong Kong), and around the violation of human rights, in- greater understanding of the world. In addition, they should cluding core worker rights; and impact that worker rights viola- support research and reporting to intensifying international efforts tions in China have on the status combat the emergence of alterna- to seek the release of worker of worker rights in developing tives to legitimate worker organi- activists in China. countries. This understanding will zations, such as the promotion of

The Future of Worker Rights in China I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Role of U.S.-China Engagement In the interest of all workers everywhere, China’s millions of workers The CECC asks the U.S. President must win respect for their rights. and Congress to expand programs aimed at helping workers assert their rights under Chinese law and to standards—could precipitate global law. These include the use of clauses facilitate cooperation among the economic crisis. that permit disciplinary measures private sector, the NGO sector, and or even dismissal of “trade union the Chinese and U.S. governments Standing U.S. trade policy recog- personnel [who] . . . infringe upon aimed at bringing Chinese labor nizes the significance of worker the rights and interests of workers.” 26 standards into compliance with rights as well as commercial rights, international standards.25 These are and it provides tools to promote One strategy that workers may wish worthy considerations, and the U.S. increased respect for those rights. to adopt is to promote reform within government should increase its Accordingly, as the U.S. government the ACFTU through using their funding of programs targeted toward considers expanding support for existing rights to elect officers every improving worker rights in China. labor-related China programs, it three to five years, to form local should also consider using the full town level and sub-district level However, attention must be given to range of applicable provisions in federations, and to call an extraordi- the effectiveness of these programs. U.S. trade law and trade policy as nary union meeting once they have Efforts to focus on economic devel- sources of stronger leverage in pro- 33 percent member support. On the opment at the expense of democratic moting increased respect for worker other hand, they may choose to 92 development and democratic princi- rights in China. work outside the ACFTU with ples have backfired in many places nascent independent groups that CHAPTER 6 around the world, such as in Latin Role of Chinese Workers seek to secure legal enforcement of America and Eastern Europe. The Chinese workers will play the most existing norms. The most important political and economic upheavals important role in promoting the guiding principle is that Chinese caused by a virtually exclusive focus growth of freedom of association. As workers themselves must choose on economic development do not, as in the past, courageous activists will who will represent them. policymakers asserted for decades, continue to encourage their govern- automatically yield political stability. ment to embrace more fully, in law Chinese workers also will choose the Given the scale of China’s economy, and practice, its international com- strategies and tactics by which they population, and influence, the failure mitments to international worker defend and expand their rights. to steadily build political stability rights. They will use their own initia- Knowing full well how difficult and through the enactment into law and tive to advocate publicly for their dangerous this struggle will be, they enforcement of democratic princi- rights and interests, and to exercise have already demonstrated their ples—such as respect for core labor those that already exist in Chinese courage and commitment in thou-

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA sands of cases. In this endeavor they China is an ancient civilization that forces growing within China’s new will undoubtedly have the whole- has contributed significantly over industrial districts and that these hearted support of the worker and many centuries to the world’s ethical forces will inevitably bring great human rights movements through- treasury—not least through the change to Chinese society. What out the world. development of Confucianism, will be the nature of that change, Taoism, and Chinese Buddhism. and who will shape it? The Choice to Lead In more recent times, China “stood up” in 1949 against a century of Today, China has a choice: to turn China joined the World Trade interference, intervention, and occu- its back on the future, or to stand up Organization (WTO) in 2001. But pation. The revolution offered a again and help lead the world toward becoming a modern industrial power vision of equality, justice, and an end a new vision in a common project for and a leader of developing country to exploitation and abuse against sustainable economic development coalitions is not just a matter of workers and peasants, but that vision with democracy, human rights, and joining the WTO and adopting was darkened. The recent turn to a social justice at its core. The oppor- policies of privatization, deregula- “robber baron” approach to industrial tunity begins with a commitment to tion, foreign investment, and other development under the slogan “to increase respect for the dignity of attributes of the market-driven get rich is glorious” threatens to work and human rights in China. In model of economic development. erase it altogether. the meantime, China’s workers and China’s new economic strength and their allies can use the small existing leadership carry responsibilities in China remains a one-party state openings to push forward, to begin the social justice arena, too. With a with a state party-controlled labor to build organizations, to call for 93 seat on the ILO’s governing body, movement. Chinese workers are improved conditions, and to advo- China must take steps to comply oppressed and exploited in ways that cate for freedom of association. In CHAPTER 6 with its ILO obligations on core depress conditions throughout the the interest of all workers every- labor standards, not just its obliga- world. Their condition is unaccept- where, China’s millions of workers tions under WTO trade rules. able. Yet it is clear that current insti- must win respect for their rights. tutions will not contain the powerful

The Future of Worker Rights in China I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Endnotes

1 See Chapter 2 on Freedom of Association; “China Labour Protest Suspended,” BBC News, March 22, 2002, pp. 1-3, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/ 1886977.stm; “China Protest Leaders Go on Trial,” BBC News, January 15, 2003, pp. 1-3, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2659887.stm; and “Chinese Protest Leaders Jailed,” BBC News, May 9, 2003, pp. 1-2, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3012711.stm

2 See Robert J. Rosoff, “Beyond Codes of Conduct,” China Business Review, the official magazine of the US-China Business Council, April 2004. Available at http://www.chinabusinessreview.com/public/0403/rosoff.html

3 See Stanley Lubman, “Law of the Jungle,” China Economic Review, 2004, pp. 1-2.

4 See Andrew J. Nathan, “15 Years After Tiananmen: Is Democracy in China’s Future?”, testimony before the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, June 3, 2004.

5 See Stanley Lubman, note 3 above, pp. 5-6.

6 See Su Min, ACFTU Reports: “Current Law Can’t Protect Women Workers’ Rights,” China Youth Daily, February 27, 2004.

7 See People’s Daily Online, August 31, 2004, “Unions Allege Bias by Private, Int’l Firms,” pp. 1-2. Available at http://english.peopledaily.com.cn

8 See Xinhua News Agency, September 14, 2004; Xinwen Weekly News, October 27, 2003.

9 See Southern Weekly at http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/zm/20040923/jj/qs/200409230024.asp, October 10, 2004. 94 10 See Reebok International Ltd., “Toward Sustainable Code Compliance: Worker Representation in China” (November 2002). CHAPTER 6 The results of these experiments are not yet clear.

11 See IHLO, “The Chinese Working Class: Fiction and Reality.” Available at http://www.ihlo.org/item4/item4c-5.htm

12 See Clean Clothes Campaign, “Pilot Project on Independent Monitoring: Summary Report on the Follow-Up Visit to Wongsheng Garments (Supplier to Switcher),” at www.cleanclothes.org.

13 See Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, Rev. 2000. Available at http://www.ihlo.org/item4/item4c-5.htm

14 See “China Economy: Sewing a Seam of Democracy in China,” Country Briefing, Financial Times Information Ltd., December 12, 2002, p. 2.

15 See China Labour Bulletin, “Tieshu Textile Workers—Historic First Hearing of Workers’ Collective Lawsuit,” April 30, 2004. Available at http://www.china-labour.org.hk/iso/article.adp?article_id=5346

16 See Charles J. Ogletree and Rangita de Silva-de Alwis, “When Gender Differences Become a Trap: The Impact of China’s Labor Law on Women,” Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, Vol. 14, No. 69 (2002).

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA 17 See Andrew J. Nathan, note 4 above.

18 See Bruce Gilley, Foreword to Corporate Social Responsibility in China: Mapping the Environment, by Hilary Murdoch and Daniella Gould, Global Alliance for Workers and Communities/Impact Limited, April 2004, p. 17. Available at http://www.theglobalalliance.org/documents/ChinaReport-web.pdf

19 See Ray Brooks and Ran Tao, China’s Labor Market Performance and Challenges, IMF Working Paper No. 03/210, November 2003, Table 1. Available at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2003/wp03210.pdf

20 See Tim Pringle, “The Chinese Working Class: Fiction and Reality,” review of Anita Chan, China’s Workers Under Assault: The Exploitation of Labor in a Globalizing Economy (2001), and Jackie Sheehan, Chinese Workers: A New History (1998), in China Rights Forum Journal, No. 1, 2002. Available at http://www.ihlo.org/item4/item4c.htm

21 See Congressional-Executive Commission on China, 2004 Annual Report, p. 1, at http://www.cecc.gov/pages/annual/Rpt/Rpt04; U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, 2004 Report to Congress, June 2004, pp. 49-50, at http://www.uscc.gov/researchre- ports/2004/04annual_report.htm

22 See Statement of U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick on U.S.-China Trade Relations, April 28, 2004, at http://www.ustr.gov/Document_Library/Press_Releases/2004/April, p. 3.

23 See “Asleep Beneath a Beijing Overpass: An Agent of Global Change,” Financial Times, September 27, 2004.

24 See http://www.ilo.org/dyn/declaris/declarationweb.indexpage

25 See CECC report, note 21 above, p. 6. 95 26 See China Labour Bulletin, Analysis of the New Trade Union Law, February 28, 2002, p. 4. Available at www.ihlo.org/item2/clbtulaw.pdf CHAPTER 6

The Future of Worker Rights in China

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I AMERICAN CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL LABOR SOLIDARITY/AFL-CIO 1925 K Street, NW Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006 www.solidaritycenter.org ISBN 0-9761551-0-9 96 AREA MAP I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I JUSTICE FOR ALL I CHINA GLOSSARY 97 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

ACFTU All-China Federation of Trade Unions bagong strike CCP Chinese Communist Party CECC U.S. Congressional-Executive Committee on China CEDAW UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women CERD UN International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination CFA ILO Committee on Freedom of Association CRC UN Convention on the Rights of the Child dagongmei rural migrant female workers daigong slowdown EPZ export processing zone; see SEZ FLUC Free Labor Union of China GLF “Great Leap Forward” GUF Global Union Federation guolaosi overwork death HKCIC Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee HKCTU Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions HKTUC Hong Kong Trades Union Council hukou household registration system instituted in 1953 ICCPR UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICESCR UN International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights ICFTU International Confederation of Free Trade Unions ICO Institute of Contemporary Observation IHLO Hong Kong ICFTU-GUF-HKCTU-HKTUC Liaison Office ILO International Labor Organization KMT Kuomingtang

Glossary 98 GLOSSARY I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

laogai China’s forced labor system; literally, “reform through labor” LRF Laogai Research Foundation mangliu term applied to peasants who moved about the country illegally looking for food or jobs; literally, “drifting” or “wandering without direction” MFN Most Favored Nation status (see NTR) MOU memorandum of understanding NGO non-governmental organization NTR Normal Trade Relations OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development PRC People’s Republic of China Rmb Renmingbi, China’s currency, also informally called the yuan; 1 Rmb = 13 cents; $1.00 = 8.3 Rmb ROC Republic of China (Taiwan) RTL Reeducation through Labor (laodong jiaoyang), part of China’s prison system SEZ special economic zone, similar to export processing zone SOE state-owned enterprise tinggong work stoppage “transmission belt” Chinese labor relations model whereby unions convey government policies to workers and promote labor discipline to implement those policies, as opposed to representing workers in dealings with employers and the government UNCHR United Nations Committee on Human Rights USCC U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission WAF Workers’ Autonomous Federation WTO World Trade Organization yuan see Rmb

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