[Marxism] American corporations resist enhanced Chinese trade union rights

[Louis Proyect]

U.S. Corporations Work to Prevent Chinese Workers' Rights
By Jeremy Brecher and Brendan L. Smith and Tim Costello, AlterNet
Posted on October 16, 2006, Printed on October 16, 2006
http://www.alternet.org/story/43051/

The New York Times reported on its front page Friday that US-based 
corporations are fighting a proposed Chinese law that seeks to protect 
workers' rights. The law is "setting off a battle with American and other 
foreign corporations that have lobbied against it by hinting that they may 
build fewer factories here."

The Times reports that Global Labor Strategies, a group that supports labor 
rights policies, is releasing a report in New York and Boston "denouncing 
American corporations for opposing legislation that would give Chinese 
workers stronger rights."

"'You have big corporations opposing basically modest reforms," said Tim 
Costello, an official of the group and a longtime labor union advocate. 
"This flies in the face of the idea that globalization and corporations 
will raise standards around the world.'" The Times article drew heavily on 
the Global Labor Strategies report, Beyond the Great Wall: U.S. 
Corporations Opposing New Rights for Chinese Workers which was released 
today. (The Spanish translation is available here.)

According to the report, US-based global corporations like Wal-Mart, 
Google, UPS, Microsoft, Nike, AT&T, and Intel, acting through US business 
organizations like the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and the 
US-China Business Council, are actively lobbying against the new labor 
legislation. They are also threatening that foreign corporations will 
withdraw from China if it is passed. China's Draft Labor Contract Law would 
provide minimal standards that are commonplace in many other countries, 
such as enforceable labor contracts, severance pay regulations, and 
negotiations over workplace policies and procedures. The Chinese government 
is supporting these reforms in part as a response to rising labor discontent.

Corporate opposition to the law is designed to maintain the status quo in 
Chinese labor relations. This includes low wages, extreme poverty, denial 
of basic rights and minimum standards, lack of health and safety 
protections, and an absence of any legal contract for many employees.

According to Beyond the Great Wall, the proposed legislation will not 
eliminate Chinese labor problems. It will not provide Chinese workers with 
the right to independent trade unions with leaders of their own choosing 
and the right to strike. But foreign corporations are attacking the 
legislation not because it provides workers too little protection, but 
because it provides them too much. Indeed, the proposed law may well 
encourage workers to organize to demand the enforcement of the rights it 
offers.

This corporate campaign contradicts the justifications that have been given 
for public policies that encourage corporations to invest in China. US 
based corporations have repeatedly argued that they are raising human and 
labor rights standards abroad. For example, the American Chamber of 
Commerce in Hong Kong asserts among its "universal principles" that 
"American business plays an important role as a catalyst for positive 
social change by promoting human welfare and guaranteeing to uphold the 
dignity of the worker and set positive examples for their remuneration, 
treatment, health and safety." But US based corporations are trying to 
block legislation designed to improve the remuneration, treatment, health 
and safety, and other standards of Chinese workers.

At a time when China exerts a growing impact on the global economy, efforts 
to improve the conditions of Chinese workers are profoundly important for 
workers everywhere. As U.S. wages stagnate, many Americans worry that low 
wages and labor standards in China are driving down those in America. 
Improving labor conditions in China can help workers in the rest of the 
world resist a "race to the bottom" that threatens to bring wages and 
conditions worldwide down to the level of the least protected. The 
opposition of corporations to minimum standards for Chinese workers should 
be of concern to workers and their political and trade union 
representatives throughout the world.

Tim Costello, Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith are the co-founders of 
Global Labor Strategies, a resource center providing research and analysis 
on globalization, trade and labor issues.

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