When
we talk about trade unions in China, specifically the All China Federation of
Trade Unions (ACFTU), we have to say that it is the biggest trade union in the
world judged by the number of members, because all Chinese workers are enrolled
automatically as members. The ACFTU is perhaps also the richest trade union in
the world because of its funding, which comes entirely from the workers’ wages:
2 percent of every worker’s monthly salary is taken as a contribution to the
funds of the ACFTU. Ironically, however, this biggest and richest trade union is
probably the weakest trade union in the world. Many scholars have studied the
impotence of the ACFTU (Walder, 1991;
Chan, 1993; Perry, 1995; Gong, 2002; Howell, 2003)
or the debate over reform of the ACFTU (Pringle, 2011). This paper therefore
doesn’t focus on the ACFTU itself but more on the trade union set-up within
enterprises, and their function.
Company
trade unions are the local branches of the ACFTU. In July 2006, the ACFTU
started to require all enterprises to set up trade unions in order to ‘protect
workers’ rights’. Enterprises were obliged to allow trade unions to be
established, but they assigned managers to be the chairmen or secretaries of
trade unions. In other words, although those trade unions were symbols of
labour rights protection, they are organs of the company. Workers in Shenzhen
told me that they don’t understand the practical function of trade unions: ‘they
just give us some bonus at the end of the year or organise some social
activities. However if we have any problems related to our work or some
complaints, they would not help us. We wouldn’t go to them either because they
are on the bosses’ side.’ I remember clearly that when I was outside the Foxconn
factory in Shenzhen this January, a young girl told me how she witnessed a co-worker
jump from the dormitory roof to commit suicide. Her co-worker didn’t succeed,
but he did seriously injure himself. The girl cried at the end and said: ‘Where
is the trade union? They are supposed to protect us (workers) but I never saw
them when my friend hurt himself.’
The
problem with company trade unions is clear: as all the officers are appointed by
the bosses, how could they act on behalf of workers’ rights or interests?
However, we seem to see the situation changing. In May 2012, workers at the Ohms
factory (a Japanese electronic factory) in Shenzhen started a strike, demanding
not a wage increase, but direct election of their company trade union representatives.
The Ohms workers’ strike successfully removed the factory-assigned chairman,
Mr. Lee; the workers’ demand for direct elections has been granted and the new
chairman, Mr. Zhao, was elected by the workers. This strike has been deemed a landmark
in Chinese workers’ fight for more workers’ rights, not just for more wages.
Shenzhen City Trade Union was also supportive of this direct election; they
even initiated a movement to push 163 factories in Shenzhen to implement the system
of direct election of trade union representatives, including Foxconn.
However
does this mean the workers’ voice has finally been heard and their wishes are
being channelled to the management side properly? Another open letter issued by
Ohms workers in March 2013, demanding the replacement of Mr. Zhao, simply reflects
the fact that even direct elections can’t guarantee workers’ rights. According
to their open letter
(in Chinese), some of the workers have now accused Zhao and the union of
failing to safeguard their interests, including the defence of the labour
contracts of 22 employees which Ohms decided not to renew earlier this year.
According to the workers Zhao even tried to persuade them to accept the
management’s offer. ‘We don’t want our union chairperson to be biased in favour
of the management. We want to elect someone who speaks for us,’ said one of the
workers.
Ohms
workers’ new demand for the removal of Mr. Zhao has not been approved yet by
the management; so far the outside world hasn’t heard any news from them.
However, my question is, will a new election meet the workers’ demands? My
argument is, if the trade union itself is an empty structure, then it doesn’t
matter who will be the chairman – worker or manager; this institution will not
have power to speak up for workers. What is the alternative to the trade union?
It will be easy to say that workers should organise their own workers’
committee rather than depending on company trade unions, but this step requires
much more courage and willingness from workers themselves. As a humble
observer, I can only wish that one day workers will find the power within
themselves, to either overcome the superficial structure of their trade union
or to establish an organisation of their own.
Chan,
Anita (1993), ‘Revolution or Corporatism? Workers and Trade Union in Post-Mao
China’, The Australian Journal of Chinese
Affairs, No. 29 (Jan.), pp. 31–61.
Gong, Wen
(2002), ‘Chinese Trade Unions Committed to Protecting Workers’, Chinese Trade Unions, No. 1, pp. 6–15.
Howell, Jude (2003), ‘Trade Unionism in China:
Sinking or Swimming?’, Communist Studies
and Transition Politics, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 102–22.
Pringle,
T. (2011), Trade
Unions in China: The Challenge of Labour Unrest, London: Routledge.
Perry, Elizabeth (1995), ‘Labour’s Battle for
Political Space: The Role of Worker Associations in Contemporary China’, in D. S.
Davis, R. Kraus, B. Naughton and E. Perry, eds., Under Spaces in Contemporary China, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, pp. 302–25.
Walder,
Andrew (1991), ‘Workers, Managers and the State: The Reform Era and the
Political Crisis of 1989’, The China
Quarterly, No. 127, pp. 467–92. 
Really interesting, as always. I love the mix of close attention to the situation at the grassroots and big, ambitious questions. Two comments:
ReplyDeleteDirect elections of union representatives are important. Even when the union is an empty shell, winning direct elections is a big victory over management, the leaders of the empty shell, and the political leaders as well. It also demonstrates the determination of the workers to turn the empty shell to their purposes and their capacity to do so. It is an affirmation of their capacity and desire for control and evidence of their equality.
But of course direct election of union leaders is no guarantee of democracy. First, because it is just one of a number of basic elements of union democracy such as free speech, the right to organize caucuses, and access to union information (please see my list of "union democracy benchmarks" for other elements http://aud2.uniondemocracy.org/auds-union-democracy-benchmarks-0).
Second, because as Jacques Ranciere writes, "democracy is... not guaranteed by any institutional form...It is only entrusted to the constancy of its specific acts." (Hatred of Democracy, p97) In that sense my list of benchmarks is better described as a list of symptoms of union democracy.
But this also points to the question you raise about alternatives to the existing trade union (or to the "mature" models being promoted for China by representatives of European and US unions and IR experts). Following Ranciere's idea, it seems more important to focus on the developing practice of worker solidarity (including the fascinating interaction with the world outside the workplace -- the community support for direct election of union officers) and the specific acts that facilitate and nurture that than to limit oneself to the existing institutional framework.
Maybe a "horizontalist" conception (like the one depicted in Marina Sitrin's Horizontalism) would be a better conceptual framework for grasping and expressing the developments you describe than the traditional union idea? (I also think we need to link union democracy to "industrial democracy" or worker control, as I tried to say in that paper I presented in Beijing.)
Many thanks Matt for your great reply. Your last point, 'horizontalism', make me think about occupied factories in Argentina (you might know it, I also wrote a small piece of blog paper some time ago). The structure is very equal or horizontal because workers they took over bosses who abandoned factories, and run the factories by themselves. In that sense they don't even need any 'trade union' or 'workers' committee' in any form, because all the workers would attend meetings and made decisions together. However they also faced several problems to go on, i.e. can't compete with 'regular' factories, difficult to recruit young and talented workers because of low payment... Although these problems are not about union democracy, but jeopardize the maintenance of the factories. How to reach the balance, how to represent workers' value/strength, through which form, I'm constantly puzzled by those questions....
DeleteThe recuperated factories are a great thing. I envy you for your visit to the factory you describe. As Mondragon shows, worker cooperatives can be viable and competitive, even in the most technologically advanced sectors of the global market. Not free of contradictions, but viable. I think the key is to focus on the principles and find the structures that enable us to realize those principles. As a start, I find the Mondragon Corporation's ten principles of cooperation useful: http://www.mondragon-corporation.com/ENG/Co-operativism/Co-operative-Experience/Co-operative-Culture.aspx Practice is messy and contradictory, by definition, but a movement of people who share principles like these would be, like the recuperated factories, a great thing.
DeleteMany thanks Matt, that was a very good sharing. I will pass this information to my contact in Buenos Aries, who is a University Professor in title but helping/organising recuperated factories in daily life. I went to visit the recuperated factory last August during ISA conference with Pun Ngai and this Argentinean Professor. A real treasury for me was to visit the occupied factory and talked to workers there (certainly the conference also counted, but you know what I meant). When I went back to China and talked to Chinese workers, it was very inspiring for them to know that factories can be run by workers, though it happened in a very far away country called Argentina. Do you have similar experience in Japan?
DeleteThe open letter in English is here: http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article28113)
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