Jasic Workers Fight for Union Rights JENNY CHAN
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Two Articles on Political and Labor Upheaval in China Jasic Workers Fight for Union Rights JENNY CHAN N JULY 27, 2018, POLICE arrested thirty Jasic employer and the Chinese government, Oprotesters in Shenzhen, including 29 including the country’s only offi cial trade Jasic Technology workers and a university union organization, the All-China Federation student. Shen Mengyu, the recent graduate of Trade Unions (ACFTU). who stood in solidarity with the protesting Earlier this May, several Jasic workers workers, has since been completely cut off reported to a labor bureau the company’s from communications. More recently, the arbitrary imposition of punitive fi nes and ir- clampdown on Dagongzhe Zhongxin, liter- regular work shifts, as well as underpayment ally translated as Migrant Workers’ Center, of the housing fund.4 Some were advised by whose staff-in-charge was allegedly linked district-level trade union offi cials to safeguard to the Jasic protest, was apparently intended themselves in accordance with the law. Under as a warning to other activists that they have the Chinese Trade Union Law, all types of gone too far in their interventions.1 Accord- enterprises with 25 employees or more are ing to state media, the fundamental confl ict supposed to have “basic-level trade union was caused by the “illegal, violent actions” of committees” on the shop fl oors (Article 10). dismissed Jasic workers2 and the instigation of An enterprise union shall be approved by the an “unregistered illegal organization.”3 Con- next higher level trade union (Article 11). trary to these claims, this article argues that A primary socio-political goal of the the central problem was the blatant violations ACFTU is to pre-empt the development of of workers’ rights and interests by both the independent unions outside the party-state. In spite of the push of the Chinese trade union federation since the 1990s, when labor JENNY CHAN is an assistant professor of sociology strikes and protests were scattered but grow- at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and vice ing throughout the country, only 33 percent of president of communications at the International the some 480,000 foreign-funded enterprises, Sociological Association’s Research Committee on and less than 30 percent of private enterprises, Labor Movements. She also serves as an academic had set up unions by mid-2005.5 Under advisor of Hong Kong-based Students & Scholars provincial trade union offi cials’ stepped-up Against Corporate Misbehavior. The author thanks New Politics editorial board members Nancy organizing drive, Guangdong aimed to “see Holmstrom and Lois Weiner, along with Richard trade unions in 60 percent of the foreign- Smith, for their warm encouragement and solidar- invested enterprises” by the end of 2006, ity support in the writing process. and “in all fi rms funded by the world’s top 84 . NEW POLITICS Chinese Jasic Workers 500 multinationals” by 2007.6 By December the workers were all excluded from the newly 2009, “unions had been set up in 92 percent formed company union. of the Fortune 500 companies operating in In Jasic and other workplaces, bargaining China,” including such giants as Foxconn and through workers’ direct actions, such as col- Wal-Mart.7 By the end of 2016, there were lective protests and strikes, has always been 2.8 million enterprise-level trade unions with risky and dangerous even when it is a viable more than 302 million registered members way to address workers’ shared grievances throughout the country, making China the under despotic management and inadequate world’s largest unionized workforce.8 legal protection. In this case, workers did not win any concessions over wages and welfare Jasic Workers Struggle benefi ts. Worse, the worker organizers were for Union Organizing accused of “illegally unionizing,” assaulted by company security offi cers and local police, and Jasic Technology Company, founded in 2005 fi red. Yu Juncong, Liu Penghua, Mi Jiuping, and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Li Zhan were charged with the crime of in 2011, is widely known as a specialist in the “gathering a crowd to disturb social order.” welding industry and one of the top 500 en- Their family members, and the lawyer who terprises in Guangdong.9 Less known is that represents them, have been repeatedly ha- Jasic had failed to set up a trade union since rassed and threatened. its opening 13 years ago. Evidence shows Tim Pringle, in assessing the future of that Jasic management has long evaded its Chinese union reforms in light of growing responsibility to facilitate workers to partici- labor unrest, stresses the need not only for pate in collective consultation over work and “more accountable enterprise-level union employment issues such as wages, working chairpersons and committees,” but also hours, health and safety, and welfare benefi ts “more supportive, interactive, and, at times, for both male and female employees. Not directive relationships between the higher until this May did the company claim that it trade unions and their enterprise-level sub- has begun to “establish a union in an orderly ordinates.”10 Conspicuous by his absence, the fashion.” Obviously, the corporate move was Beijing-based ACFTU chairperson, Wang a strategic response to unprecedented labor Dongming, in effect endorsed discrimination challenges from the bottom up. and retaliation by Jasic against its employees, Jasic worker leaders, with trust and confi - particularly those who had fought for setting dence from co-workers, had quickly gathered up a representative union. 89 signatures out of a factory workforce of 1,000 for the union membership application. Contentious Labor Relations At this point, the authorities withdrew their original “verbal support” for workers’ union- Labor struggle for economic and political izing. Instead, they recognized only the efforts rights (for instance, demanding union elec- of management, who likewise submitted tions) has drawn increasing government at- their intent to “set up a union in accordance tention. To maintain government legitimacy, with the law.” The relationship between Jasic the state under President Xi Jinping continues management and the government cannot be to search for mechanisms to resolve labor closer, as revealed in this fi erce worker-led confl icts and manage social discontent. Time struggle for union rights at the factory level. and again, settlement of high-profi le worker By early August, Jasic had taken full protests through direct government mediation control over union organizing by crushing the is undertaken to restore “social harmony.” In- workers’ initiatives. Candidates nominated by deed, offi cials have skillfully developed a wide Winter 2019 . 85 Chinese Jasic Workers array of “protest absorption” techniques to cases be fi led individually to fragment and settle labor disputes at the scene. These include isolate the plaintiffs.14 lowering workers’ “realistic” expectation of As China’s offi cials make extensive use claims to compensation, pressuring manage- of their discretionary power to resolve major ment to grant some economic concessions to labor crises rather than enabling workers adversely affected workers, and simultaneously to exercise fundamental rights to freedom manipulating workers’ familial and social rela- of association, it is unclear how long this tions to silence the resistance. Worker solidar- government-led strategy will remain viable, ity has frequently dissipated when leaders were particularly when workers’ basic rights and intimidated, arrested, or bought off.11 interests are routinely violated. Following strikes, offi cials and corporate executives have jointly developed multi- Chinese Students: pronged tools to monitor labor conditions, “We Support Jasic Workers!” if not for outright repression. As a well- During the late nineteenth and early twenti- documented example, at a Honda car-parts eth centuries, students and intellectuals played assembly factory, Kong Xianghong, vice- a critical role in the nascent labor movement chair of the Guangdong Federation of Trade of China’s modern history. Today, in a deeply Unions, presided over the direct election of marketized economy under the auspices of the shop-fl oor union representatives in 2010 and party-state, university students and workers subsequent collective bargaining on wages in involved in the Jasic incident similarly show 2011. Many workers were disappointed, how- a heightened sense of social awareness. ever, that the discredited factory union chair From late July, scholars15 and activists of a was permitted to remain as head of a partially wider coalition of labor rights organizations16 reformed union, and the two “elected” vice- have petitioned online for the Chinese gov- chairs were top-level managers, refl ecting ernment to release the detained Jasic workers continued managerial control. Moreover, and their supporters. Importantly, on the while the company was forced to yield on ground, concerned mainland students from the important issue of wages under pressure more than twenty universities have formed from the provincial trade union, in the name a fast-expanding network to support Jasic of restoring “industrial peace” it was able to workers and their families. The self-identifi ed ignore all other 100-some worker demands, Jasic Worker Support Group has set up an including those for women’s rights and im- email account (jiashishengyuantuan@gmail. proved welfare benefi ts (paid maternity leave com), a social media platform (twitter.com/ja- and a one-hour