[Marxism] ACFTU: a pawn in the hands of the government and industries

[Anon Anon]

09/01/2007
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=10190&size=A

The union leaders are almost all members of the CP or
civil servants. Many union officials hold high ranking
CP positions, and have vested interests in industries,
private and public, with the result that often they
protect the employers rather than employees.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – All China Federation of
Trade Unions (Acftu), all too often supports the will
of the employers against the workers.  In a statement
issued by the China Labour Bullettin – a magazine
dedicated to protecting worker’s rights - Cai
Chongguoo, who fled China in the aftermath of
Tiananmen square and who had tried to start up a free
union movement launches his attack.

The ACFTU constitution clearly stipulates – says Cai -
that it is led by the Party and that if enterprises
have party organisations, their leaders or bosses are
either Party officials within the enterprise or local
Party officials. It is perfectly normal for the Party
to require trade union leaders to do its bidding. A
trade union boss  dare not disobey the Party's orders
for fear of disciplinary action.

It is also a fact that the union has frequently sided
with employers.  In June 2007, Lu Guorong, lost one of
her fingers operating crude machinery at a small rural
factory in Hebei.  Not only did the factory owner
refuse to compensate her, he fired her two days after
the accident because without her finger she could no
longer operate the machinery.  Lu sought redress at
the local labour bureau but in the arbitration hearing
her official trade union representative appeared on
behalf of the factory owner. On 16 November 2005 that
when Ma Ruixing, an employee of the Dajianshan Forest
Farm in Shanxi refused to accept an early retirement
order, management cut his wages in half in a bid to
force him to retire. Ma fought back and appealed to
the local Labour Disputes Arbitration Committee but
during the arbitration hearings the forest farm was
represented by Ren Fuchang, the chairman of its trade
union. 

On 14 December 2006, Chen Weiguang, deputy director of
the Guangzhou People's Congress and chairman of the
Guangzhou Federation of Trade Unions, told a reporter
that according to a survey conducted by his
federation, 65.9% of trade union chairmen in Guangzhou
enterprises held two or more posts concurrently, and
in non-state-owned enterprises the figure was 98.7%. A
survey carried out by the Shenyang Federation of Trade
Unions in 2005 revealed that in 98% of the city's
enterprises and in 100% of its grassroots trade
unions, the post of union chair was held by someone
who was also a deputy secretary in the municipal party
committee or who held a deputy position in the
administration.

“These inter-connections are widespread – concludes
Cai –  and they have ramifications in civil cases, and
arbitrations, the union directors represent the
interest of the employer and not that of the worker”.

He adds that this bureaucratic organisation is so vast
as to impede any effective change that many single
officials try to put in place in defence of the
workers.




       
____________________________________________________________________________________
Building a website is a piece of cake. Yahoo! Small Business gives you all the tools to get online.
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting