Analysis and Commentary
Stepping into the breach: labour groups start to take on the role of the trade union in China
China’s
sole legally-mandated trade union, the All-China Federation of Trade
Unions (ACFTU), has consistently failed to protect and promote the
interests of China’s workers. This failure has been particularly
apparent over the last two years; a period of enhanced labour activism
in which the need for a properly functioning trade union has become ever
more urgent.
The failure of the ACFTU to act meant that a growing number of civil society labour groups in China, primarily based in Guangdong, had to step into the breach, helping to organize workers and resolve their disputes with management through collective bargaining.
In China Labour Bulletin’s new Chinese-language report on the Workers’ Movement in China, published today, we focus in particular on the growing importance of China’s labour groups during this period of rapid social, economic and political change.
The report (中国工人运动观察报告 2013—2014年) notes how ACFTU officials too often remained aloof and distant in the face of worker activism, acting more like government officials rather than real trade unionists. This stance only alienated them further from the workers they are supposed to represent.
Most of the activists working in China’s labour groups, on the other hand, used to be workers themselves; they understand workers and remain close to them. As such they have been able to successfully guide workers through collective action and resolve labour conflicts with management. Over the last two years, the hands-on experience of these labour groups has grown immeasurably and they have now become a key part of the workers’ movement in China.
Workers at the Liansheng
Moulding Factory in Guangzhou stage a protest in September 2013 designed
to bring their boss to the negotiating table.
The first part of the report analyses 1,793 specific incidents of workers’ collective action across the whole of China in 2013 and 2014, and discusses why the number of incidents has increased both in number and scale, how workers’ demands have developed, and how their actions have matured. It also looks at how some local collective actions have evolved into industry-wide or regional actions.
The report stresses the extent to which the confidence and organizational ability of workers has grown to the point where they are not only aware of their rights but understand that they are part of the working class; a class that increasingly has the strength and ability to forge its own destiny.
In addition, the report looks at the response of government officials to the workers’ movement in China and shows how many officials have been forced to look beyond the simple “maintenance of stability” and accept that collective bargaining can be a more effective means of improving labour relations.
The 62-page report is the sixth in a series of reports on the workers’ movement dating back to 2000, all of which can be found on the CLB website. It develops and expands upon many of the themes discussed in our English-language report,
The failure of the ACFTU to act meant that a growing number of civil society labour groups in China, primarily based in Guangdong, had to step into the breach, helping to organize workers and resolve their disputes with management through collective bargaining.
In China Labour Bulletin’s new Chinese-language report on the Workers’ Movement in China, published today, we focus in particular on the growing importance of China’s labour groups during this period of rapid social, economic and political change.
The report (中国工人运动观察报告 2013—2014年) notes how ACFTU officials too often remained aloof and distant in the face of worker activism, acting more like government officials rather than real trade unionists. This stance only alienated them further from the workers they are supposed to represent.
Most of the activists working in China’s labour groups, on the other hand, used to be workers themselves; they understand workers and remain close to them. As such they have been able to successfully guide workers through collective action and resolve labour conflicts with management. Over the last two years, the hands-on experience of these labour groups has grown immeasurably and they have now become a key part of the workers’ movement in China.
The first part of the report analyses 1,793 specific incidents of workers’ collective action across the whole of China in 2013 and 2014, and discusses why the number of incidents has increased both in number and scale, how workers’ demands have developed, and how their actions have matured. It also looks at how some local collective actions have evolved into industry-wide or regional actions.
The report stresses the extent to which the confidence and organizational ability of workers has grown to the point where they are not only aware of their rights but understand that they are part of the working class; a class that increasingly has the strength and ability to forge its own destiny.
In addition, the report looks at the response of government officials to the workers’ movement in China and shows how many officials have been forced to look beyond the simple “maintenance of stability” and accept that collective bargaining can be a more effective means of improving labour relations.
The 62-page report is the sixth in a series of reports on the workers’ movement dating back to 2000, all of which can be found on the CLB website. It develops and expands upon many of the themes discussed in our English-language report,
hina’s miners step up protests as industry downturn continues
29 April, 2015
Workers
in China’s coal, iron ore, gold and silver mining industries have all
taken to the streets in protest this year as the economic slowdown
continues to impact on mining companies across the country.
The vast majority of protests in the mining industry (25 of the 30 incidents recorded on CLB’s Strike Map since 1 January this year) have been over the non-payment of wages. Other disputes have mainly centred on redundancy payments and low wages etc.
One of the biggest protests occurred in the north-eastern city of Qitaihe on 6 April and involved several thousand coal miners from the state-owned Longmei Group who demanded the payment of three months wages in arrears and two years’ heating subsidies. See photo below. Scuffles with the police broke out as workers refused to disperse. The protest reportedly continued sporadically for at least one week.
In another incident, on 25 April, more than 600 coal miners near the Shandong city of Jining staged a protest over four months’ wage arrears and the non-payment of pension contributions.
The majority of wage arrears protests occurred in the central-northern provinces of Shanxi, Shandong and Hebei, a region that saw a huge mining boom in the 2000s but is now clearly feeling the effects of the economic slowdown.
The coal industry has been worst hit by the slowdown. China's coal output declined 3.5 percent year on year to 850 million tonnes in the first quarter of this year, the China National Coal Association reported on 13 April. Coal sales volume shrank 4.7 percent to 800 million tonnes in the first three months, while the total losses of China’s 90 major coal enterprises hit 13.1 billion yuan, it said.
There are, in addition, signs that the iron ore industry is experiencing similar problems. Up to a hundred workers at an iron ore mine near the central city of Xuchang staged a protest outside the local government demanding payment of five months’ wage arrears on 22 January.
In a bid to prop up its domestic iron ore industry, the Chinese government is reportedly considering rolling out a nationwide subsidy that would help keep afloat businesses devastated by the dramatic drop in iron ore prices over the last year.
The vast majority of protests in the mining industry (25 of the 30 incidents recorded on CLB’s Strike Map since 1 January this year) have been over the non-payment of wages. Other disputes have mainly centred on redundancy payments and low wages etc.
One of the biggest protests occurred in the north-eastern city of Qitaihe on 6 April and involved several thousand coal miners from the state-owned Longmei Group who demanded the payment of three months wages in arrears and two years’ heating subsidies. See photo below. Scuffles with the police broke out as workers refused to disperse. The protest reportedly continued sporadically for at least one week.
The majority of wage arrears protests occurred in the central-northern provinces of Shanxi, Shandong and Hebei, a region that saw a huge mining boom in the 2000s but is now clearly feeling the effects of the economic slowdown.
The coal industry has been worst hit by the slowdown. China's coal output declined 3.5 percent year on year to 850 million tonnes in the first quarter of this year, the China National Coal Association reported on 13 April. Coal sales volume shrank 4.7 percent to 800 million tonnes in the first three months, while the total losses of China’s 90 major coal enterprises hit 13.1 billion yuan, it said.
There are, in addition, signs that the iron ore industry is experiencing similar problems. Up to a hundred workers at an iron ore mine near the central city of Xuchang staged a protest outside the local government demanding payment of five months’ wage arrears on 22 January.
In a bid to prop up its domestic iron ore industry, the Chinese government is reportedly considering rolling out a nationwide subsidy that would help keep afloat businesses devastated by the dramatic drop in iron ore prices over the last year.
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