ACFTU and Trade Unions

Economic crisis and rising joblessness overshadow the 15th Congress

As autumn gripped China in 2008, not only leaves but countless jobs began to be shed as industrial units shut one after the other. Several major enterprises closed down in the normally bustling Dongguan region alone. Some of them, like the closure of the toy producing enterprise Smart Union, have been relatively big, forcing 7,000 workers out of their jobs.

However, since the financial crisis began to prise workers from whatever scraps are left of their once famed “iron rice bowl”, leaders of the All China Federation of Trade Unions were nowhere to be seen. Except, that is, in Beijing where they held their 15th Congress. The five-yearly Congress is a major event and this year had more than 1,600 delegates attending.

Despite the fanfare that heralded the start of the Congress however, the actual news that emerged from the gathering has been incredibly muted. The last Congress was, it must be fair, an unusual one as it disturbed the usual routine of long speeches, bored delegates and not much news to report. It was in 2003 that the ACFTU made the long overdue decision to admit that rural migrant workers were indeed members of the proletariat and could be considered eligible to join the unions under its umbrella officially, for whatever that was worth. It also issued guidelines on the election of union officials and seemed to herald a new era in ACFTU internal reform.

“To safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the 210 million farmers-turned-migrant workers has become a new mission of trade unions nationwide,” Xinhua said. [NOTE 1] It did not, of course, say why the ACFTU had not woken up to the task in the past three decades when the migrant workers, their wives and children were suffering massive discrimination in terms of jobs, housing, education and healthcare.

ACFTU chairman Wang Zhaoguo was quoted by Xinhua as saying top priority has been given to the task of safeguarding migrant workers’ rights. The official agency said about 66 million migrants are now members of the federation. [NOTE 2] He said trade unions nationwide should seek to strengthen their organizations with Chinese characteristics. Xinhua helpfully explained that the concept of "trade unions with Chinese characteristics" embraced the principles of sticking to the leadership of the Communist Party of China over the unions, as well as to putting the workers first and protecting their rights and interests in line with laws and in a scientific manner. Pursuit of harmonious labour relations is another requirement of building trade unions with Chinese characteristics, Xinhua said.

The combination of “trade union with Chinese characteristics” and “harmonious labour relations” under the aegis of the sole ruling Communist Party which has been pursuing “socialism with Chinese characteristics” for 30 years now gives a good indication of what is in store for the workers. If “harmony” means no show of dissent whatever policies state and private employers pursue, it can only bode ill for workers and their rights.

It is worth bearing in mind that Wang's predecessor Wei Jianxing had for a time been concurrently head of the Communist Party's powerful police set up, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, as well as Party Secretary of Beijing. Wang himself had in the past been governor of the relatively prosperous coastal province of Fujian, head of the Communist Youth League and later head of the Party's United Front Department, none of which were exactly tasks that included upholding the rights of suffering workers.

Wang did give notice that he was aware of some pressing problems faced by a section of workers, namely the migrants. The ACFTU would ensure that they get their salaries on time; China Daily quoted him as saying in December. [NOTE 3] "Because migrant workers still receive their salaries late sometimes, we should work harder to tackle this problem," he said. That if the migrants had had proper functioning unions in the first place, the problem would not have arisen was something Wang did not seem to have considered.

China Daily in the same report quoted Tong Zhihui, a professor at the school of agricultural economics and rural development at Renmin University of China, as saying a high percentage of migrant workers had joined trade unions but that the tricky part was helping unions reach their potential. Tricky, indeed!

"Most migrant workers tend to find lawyers or directly appeal to the law when employers violate their rights. It would save time and money if trade unions could fulfill this role," Tong said. 

IHLO
October 2008
Updated January 2009

NOTES