In August last year, the 400 workers of the Baosheng Printing Company, an enterprise from South Korea, in Cangzhou City, Hebei Province, walked off the job to protest forced overwork and demanded higher rates of pay. After much negotiation with the trade union, the company promised the workers a 8% rise every year and a reduction of workload.
¡°We have seen our working conditions and benefits improved substantially and, most of all, the management is taking a humane approach to labour,¡± said Yan Li, a worker of the company.
Wei Shiling, an official of the Hebei Provincial Trade Union Federation, said: ¡°Collective bargaining can help guarantee the economic interests of workers and labour stability.¡±
In recent years, Chinese trade unions have been working hard to establish the system of wage negotiation in all enterprises. By the end of last year, 339,000 enterprises around China set up the system covering 35.55 million workers. The following stories highlight the efforts Chinese trade unions have made in this respect.
Wage Negotiation
In Hebei Province, pay rates are not longer determined by enterprises but fixed through bargaining between the management and labour. Up to now, 29,000 enterprises in the province have brought in the system of wage negotiation covering some 1.6 million workers.
Well-known for its leather industry, Xinji City in the province has 113 private tanneries with a workforce of 8,000. Several years ago, those plants often subtracted cash from workers¡¯ pay-checks arbitrarily, which inevitably led to labour disputes. With trade unions formed in the tanneries in recent years, pay rates are set through negotiation between trade unions and the management, thus effectively protecting workers¡¯ rights.
¡°The company promises to pay in time when recruiting new workers,¡± said Ma Shuzhen, a quality inspector of the Hengli Leather Company. ¡°This is quite a departure from its past practice. Moreover, the management will have to sign a wage agreement with new recruits, otherwise no one is willing to take a job with the company.¡±
Ma¡¯s company introduced the system of wage negotiation in 2001. Under the agreement it has signed with the workers, wages are paid on the tenth day of every month. With that assurance, the workers are conscientious in whatever they do, which can be seen from our product quality. In the past, the quality rate was only 80%, while today it is over 90%.¡±
With the system in place, enterprises in the city are more stable, have less turnover and are more profitable. The number of disputes over pay has dropped by 76%.
Industrial Agreement
Last year, a woollen textile workers¡¯ union in Xinhe Township, Wenling City, Zhejiang Province, signed its second agreement with the city¡¯s association of the textile industry. The agreement stipulated a 5 to 10% rise for five types of work. Li Bin, a worker of a garment company, was elated at the news. ¡°With the agreement in force I can earn 100 yuan extra every month.¡±
Xinhe Township is a place where the city¡¯s textile mills are concentrated. There are 116 enterprises with a total workforce of 12,000. In the past, there was no wage standard governing piecework, which often led to work stoppage and prompted complaints from workers.
To reverse the situation, the trade union council in the city decided to introduce the system of wage negotiation to determine the pay rate for each type of work in the textile industry. In June 2003, the trade union called a meeting in which 13 worker representatives and employers from eight enterprises bargained over wages and benefits for five types of work. After six rounds of haggling, the trade union and the association fixed the minimum wage standard for workers in the textile industry, specifying that each worker shall get no less than 27 yuan per day and no less than 800 yuan every month. At the same time, the pay day was also established.
In August 2003, the trade union signed a wage agreement with the association. Both sides agreed to meet every year to discuss wage issues. With the new measure going into effect, the number of labour disputes has fallen sharply. At present, trade unions in the city¡¯s industries are following suit.
Win-Win Situation
¡°The average wage of managerial personnel and frontline workers shall not be lower than 2,000 yuan per month, and the average wage of part-time workers shall be no less than 60 yuan per day; every enterprise must pay its workers in full prior to 25 of every month and no enterprise is allowed to delay payment of workers¡¯ salary without reason¡¡± so declares a wage agreement.
The agreement was signed by the decoration workers¡¯ union in southern China¡¯s coastal boomtown of Shenzen on behalf 12,000 workers with more than 100 private enterprises in July 2002. Since the agreement took effect, no violations on the part of the enterprises have been reported.
In March 2001, the Shenzhen Trade Union Council chose the decoration trade to experiment with wage agreement. To ensure that the work was going well, the trade union and the decoration trade association conducted a survey of the labour market so as to determine a pay rate and draft an agreement. In July 2002, after four rounds of talks, the trade union did a deal with the 100 enterprises on pay rates.
The agreement has not laid out wage guidelines but also provided legal basis for handling labour disputes. Last year, a dispute was taken to court. As there was no agreement between labour and management, the court found it hard to support the workers¡¯ pay claim. Finally the court handed down a ruling based on the industrial agreement.
The agreement is intended to create a win-win situation for both labour and enterprises. To expand its coverage, the association and the trade union have agreed to hold a consultation every year to decide the wage issue.
(July 15, 2005)
