《“不当的影响” ：沃尔玛、谷歌、通用电器压迫中国遏止工人的权利》

2007年5月12日《人民每周世界》

: 约翰.武捷克

根据全球劳工战略(GLS)三位伯廉丹.史密斯、汤姆.科斯特洛和捷尼.伯来彻4月5日发表的告指出：由中国改革“劳工法”而引发的一场“拉锯战”已经席卷全球。

告中说, 一边是沃尔玛、谷歌、通用电气公司和其他跨国公司,他们一直在游说中国政府限制中国工人的权利。在另一边是在中国的维护工人权利的力量,包括中国官方劳工组织、中华全国总工会(ACFTU) , 在美国及世界各地劳动和人权团体。

一位中国政府的终身支持者,并不被列为“异己份子”的中国学者和劳工律师柳澄,四月初飞赴华盛顿,为了争取美国国会代表和劳工领导人对中国将在全国人民代表大会提出的一项法律争取支持。他曾帮助起草此提案。

他说,他今天在华盛顿会见的所有的人表示, 基本上没有中国以外的劳工支持者的帮助,一些中国全国人民代表大会的代表会受到跨国公司的游说, 可能倾向给予雇主更多的优惠青睐。

不幸的是, 他的担忧已在去年成为事实。

商务破坏工会的地位和作用

2006年3月,中国政府在民众的广泛支持下,提议修改的劳动法给予工人的权利显着增加。上海美国商会(AmCham) 、美中贸易全国委员会、沃尔玛、通用电气公司甚至谷歌立即发动攻势。有道，沃尔玛和通用电气公司扬言如果改革提案成为法律，他们要收拾行装前往巴基斯坦和泰国。

九个月后,中国政府提出修改原先的方案，一些被收录在提案第一稿中的合同、集体谈判和遣散费的权利部分都被减少了。

跨国公司和大企业在中国的运作公然声称信誉产生变化了。

斯嘎.史利佩，微软中国人力资源部总监，去年向商业周刊记者解释说：“我们已经做了足够的风险投资，如果有问题我们也会很激动，希望有人能够听我们的意见。”

中美商务委员会去年12月宣称，中国政府在其原来的草案建议上所作的改变,是有“重大改善”。

据全球劳工战略(GLS)导说，一名代表众多中国企业的律师最近表示，“来自企业界的评论似乎已经产生了影响。而2006年3月草案现有的法律相比较提出了大幅度增加对员工的保障,并发挥工会更大作用,新的草案缩减对员工的保护和大幅削减工会的作用。”

公司寸步不让

中国显然已经学习到，一旦你对大公司做出让步，他们立即会提出更多的要求。跨国公司已展开一项新的重大努力, 要在这个提案在这个春天成为法律之前，进一步对立法施加影响。

美中商务委员会已致函中国政府将部分修订草案描述为“累赘”和“令人望而却步、价位太高”。声明说，那些条文将会“对生产力和经济活力的雇主产生不利的影响。”

美中商务委员会说：“我们要等到最后定稿，看看法案将如何实施”，“如果法律对雇主来说过于消极,那么我们很可能会看到的是招聘条件的降低。”

对待每一个行动

无论在哪里每当大公司受到攻击，同时，工人阶级及其盟友也寄望予以还击。这种情况是千真万确的。

中华全国总工会已采取了强硬的立场对付外国企业所施加的压力。中国工会已经在对公司想要在制定新的劳工政策过程中限制工会作用的影响进行斗争。谢良明,中国司法部副主任，公开批评美国和欧盟商会在该法律草案的通过过程中所发出的威胁动作。他告诉南华早, “威胁要撤出投资，这是对一个国家的法律制定过程过度的干预。”

中国以外的国际工会联合会对他们的雇主施加压力，改变他们在这个问题上的做法，人权团体纷纷动员起来支持中国工人维护自身权利。

12月8日,刚刚在2006年的选举中当选的美国国会议员:加州民主党的林恩.胡士、芭芭拉.李和乔治.米勒以及麻省民主党的巴尼.弗兰克和其他28名众议员提出立法，要求总统公开表示支持保护中国工人的权利条款并保护中国草拟的劳工法和否定美国公司在新的法案中要求限制中国工人权利的努力。他们的举动是重要的,因为它正确地将重点放在在中国的跨国公司身上,而不是单纯抨击与中国贸易的整体理念。他们的举动是重要,还因为它是一部分争取更广泛让华盛顿的立法决策人主动远离反劳工的政府的国会议员们的努力。

回击显示结果

在中国内外的回击中,已经开始展现出几个层次的结果。

首先,以在中国设有企业为基础的美国和欧洲统一联盟已经开始断裂。

美国商会正在为其立场受到它自己的一些最强大的成员的抵抗而开会。耐克批驳美国商会,耐克副总裁汉纳琼斯说,“耐克积极支持中国政府加强劳动法和保护工人权利的努力有一个悠久的历史。当美商会采取不同的立场，耐克尚未确定就中国草拟的劳动法采取什么立场。”

欧联商会在中国最初警告说，中国政府试图改革劳工法可能导致外国企业不再向中国投资，但是在人权和劳工团体的压力下，现在他们却突然出面“澄清”说要欢迎此法。

工会的联合与“全球血汗游说”

回击的第二个效果是潜在的而且是更加重要的层次。全球劳工战略(GLS)告说，它打开了在美国和世界各地的工会不是简单地反对与中国贸易，而是以一种具体的方式回击称之为“全球血汗工厂游说”的国际劳动联合体。

就这些重要问题，这个告提出了几个重点。

作为全球经济强国，中国的兴起成为对世界各地工人的挑战，尤其是现在占全球25%左右的劳动力是中国人。这意味着全球规范工资和工作条件标准的增长将越来越多地依据中国来制定。在发达国家的工人来之不易的成果被破坏和发展中国家的工人的愿望都看望着中国成为在许多行业中确定工资标准的国家。

这份告指出，单纯地攻击中国或攻击与中国贸易的理念都不能解决跨国全球性公司在全球经济中的影响作用。在过去12年中，中国大大地增加的出口量，有三分之二来自非中国所拥有的全球性公司。在中国的全球跨国公司外资企业的产品60%出口到美国。

“中国攻击论”导致穷途末路

“中国威胁论”已经不太在意与中国贸易，而是与沃尔玛、通用电器公司和全球跨国公司到中国去降低劳动成本,然后利用这些较低的劳动力成本为杠杆压低其他国家工人工资和工人的工作条件的贸易。企业随着中国进入改革其劳动法而插手是非常危险的,因为如果不提高中国的生活水平,世界工人阶级中25 %的中国工人的生活,那将产生灾难性地影响全世界。

该告有一个令人印象深刻的结论: “中国攻击论”并不能提供一种解决无论是工人还是政府都正在试图在中国在全球经济体系的冲击影响下建立起一个联合体。相比于美国公司和他们的“血汗工厂游说团” 试图扭转这个作用，使中国工人更加贫困和工作条件更差，美国及世界各地的工人及其联盟和政治代表,提供一个简单、具体的方式，可以帮助改善中国工人的条件。为此，它正在成为劳工和政治舞台上的一个核心问题。

约翰.武捷克([email protected])人民世界周刊劳工编辑

“不当的影响: 公司在中国新劳动法上的抬头战”一文已于日前发表在全球劳动战略(GLS)。全球劳动战略(GLS)是一个研究全球化、贸易和劳工问题的资源中心,它在纽约、波士顿和乌拉圭的蒙得维的亚设有办事处。曾制作获得艾美奖提名的PBS纪录片《地球村或全球掠夺》

胡大江翻译

‘Undue influence’: Wal-mart, Google, GE press China to curb workers’ rights
Search WWW Search pww.org

Archive Oct. 2001 - 2007 editions 2007 Editions May 12, 2007
Author: John Wojcik
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 05/10/07 13:42





AP
There is a “tug of war” raging worldwide over reforms in China’s labor law, according to Brendan Smith, Tim Costello and Jerry Brecher, authors of a report released April 5 by Global Labor Strategies (GLS).

On one side of the battle, the report says, is Wal-Mart, Google, General Electric and other transnational corporations that have been lobbying to limit rights for Chinese workers. On the other side are workers’ rights forces in China, including the country’s official laber organization, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), and labor and human rights groups in the U.S. and around the world.

Chinese scholar and labor lawyer Liu Cheng, a lifelong supporter of the Chinese government who can by no means be classified as a “dissident,” flew to Washington in early April to win support from U.S. congressional representatives and labor leaders for a law that is pending before the National People’s Congress in China. He helped draft the measure.

Essentially, he told everyone he met in Washington that without support from labor backers outside China, some representatives in the National People’s Congress, under the influence of the transnational corporate lobby, might push for concessions in favor of the employers.

Unfortunately, events of the last year show that his fears are based in fact.


Business undermines unions’ role

In March 2006, the Chinese government, with broad popular support, proposed changes in labor law with significant increases in workers’ rights. The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham), the United States China Business Council, Wal-Mart, General Electric and even Google immediately went on the offensive. There are reports that Wal-Mart and General Electric threatened to pack their bags for Pakistan and Thailand if the proposed reforms became law.

Nine months later the Chinese government put out revisions of its original proposal that reduced some of the contractual, collective bargaining and severance rights that were featured in the first proposal.

The transnational corporate and big business operatives in China openly claimed credit for the changes.

“We have enough investment at stake that we can usually get someone to listen to us if we are passionate about an issue,” Scot Slipy, Microsoft’s director of human resources in China, explained to a reporter from Business Week last year.

The changes made by the Chinese government in its original draft proposals are a “significant improvement,” declared the U.S.-China Business Council last December.

According to the GLS report, a lawyer representing numerous corporations in China recently said, “Comments from the business community appear to have had an impact. Whereas the March 2006 draft offered a substantial increase in the protection for employees and a greater role for unions than existing law, the new draft scaled back protections for employees and sharply curtailed the role of unions.”


Give an inch to corporations …

China is apparently learning that once you make concessions to big business they immediately demand more. The transnational corporations have launched a major new effort to further gut the legislation before it becomes law later this spring.

The U.S.-China Business Council has written to the Chinese government describing parts of the revised draft as “burdensome” and “prohibitively expensive,” saying they will have “an adverse impact on the productivity and economic viability of employers.

“We will have to wait until the final draft is written and see how the law will be implemented,” the council says. “If the law is too negative for employers, then we might see a slowdown of recruitment.”


For every action …

Whenever and wherever big business goes on the attack, however, the working class and its allies can be counted on to fight back. This is no less true in this situation.

The ACFTU has taken a strong stand against the corporate pressure. The Chinese labor federation has been fighting efforts by companies to restrict the role of unions in setting new labor policies. Xie Langmin, vice director of the federation’s law department, publicly criticized both the U.S. and European Union Chambers of Commerce for issuing threats as the draft law moves through the legislative process. He told the South China Morning Post, “It is excessive to intervene in a country’s law making process by threatening to withdraw investment.”

Outside China, international union federations have pressured their employers to reverse course on this issue and human rights groups have mobilized support for the rights of Chinese workers.

On Dec. 8, shortly after the 2006 elections in the U.S., Reps. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), George Miller (D-Calif.), Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and 28 other members of the House introduced legislation calling upon the president to publicly express support for the rights of Chinese workers and the protection provisions of China’s draft labor law and to repudiate efforts by U.S. corporations to limit new rights for Chinese workers. Their move was important because it properly placed emphasis on the role of transnational corporations in China rather than simply bashing the whole idea of trade with China. Their move was important also because it was part of a broader effort to take policy-making initiative away from a notoriously anti-labor administration in Washington.


Fight-back shows results

The fight-back both inside and outside China has begun to show results on several levels.

First, it has begun to fracture the unity of U.S.- and European Union-based corporations in China.

AmCham is meeting resistance to its position now from some of its own most powerful members. Nike has repudiated the American Chamber of Commerce, with Nike Vice President Hannah Jones saying, “Nike has a long history of actively supporting the Chinese government’s efforts to strengthen labor laws and protections of workers’ rights. When AmCham took its position Nike had yet definitely to state a position on the draft labor law.”

The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China had initially warned that the Chinese government’s attempt to reform labor law might cause foreign corporations to disinvest in China, but under pressure from human rights and labor groups it has now issued a stunning “clarification” welcoming the law.


Unions unite vs. ‘global sweatshop lobby’

The fight-back has had a second effect on a potentially even more significant level. It has opened the way for unions in the United States and around the world not simply to oppose trade with China, but to fight in a concrete way what one international labor federation, according to the GLS report, calls the “global sweatshop lobby.”

The report makes some important points in this regard.

The emergence of China as a global economic powerhouse poses challenges for workers everywhere, particularly now that 25 percent of the global workforce is Chinese. This means that the global norm for wages and working standards will be increasingly set by China. Hard-won gains of workers in developed countries are undermined and aspirations of workers in developing countries are dashed as China becomes the wage setting country in many industries.

The report points out that simply attacking China or the idea of trade with China fails to address the role of transnational global corporations in a global economy. Two-thirds of the increase in Chinese exports in the last 12 years are from non-Chinese owned global companies. Foreign-owned global transnationals account for 60 percent of Chinese exports to the United States.


‘China bashing’ leads to dead end

The “Chinese threat,” then, is less about trade with China than it is about trade with Wal-Mart and GE. Global transnationals move to China to lower labor costs and then they use those lower labor costs as a lever to drive down wages and working conditions for workers in other countries. Corporate meddling as China moves to reform its labor law is so dangerous because failure to raise standards in China, the home of 25 percent of the world’s working class, will have a devastating effect worldwide.

The report comes to an impressive conclusion:

“China bashing” does not provide a solution for either workers or governments that are trying to come to terms with the impact of China in the global economy. In contrast, trying to reverse the role of U.S. corporations and their “sweatshop lobby” in perpetuating poverty and poor working conditions in China is providing a straightforward, concrete way that workers and their union and political representatives in the U.S. and around the world can help improve the conditions of workers in China. For that reason it is emerging as a central issue in both the labor and political arenas.

John Wojcik (jwojcik @pww.org) is labor editor at the People’s Weekly World.


“Undue influence: Corporations gain ground in battle over China’s new labor law” was issued recently by Global Labor Strategies (GLS), a resource center on globalization, trade and labor issues. GLS, which has offices in New York, Boston and Montevideo, Uruguay, produced the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary video “Global Village or Global Pillage”


Fast food … but low pay




AP
American fast food giants including McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut have been accused of underpaying staff at their stores in China.

The accusations against the companies have been made by the Federation of Trade Unions of Shanxi Province, which claims Chinese workers at the company were being paid salaries below the lowest standard set by the government.

Wang Hauping, a reporter for the New Express newspaper in China, received calls from part-time workers at the three companies claiming they were paid wages that were well below the minimums set by the provincial government.

Hauping did an investigative report and found that McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut were paying 4, 4.7 and 5.8 yuan an hour, respectively. The minimum wage set by the government in that province is 7.6 yuan an hour.

Under the law, part-time workers are not allowed to work more than five hours per day or 30 hours per week. In reality, McDonald’s is forcing part-timers to work 13 hours a day, with no additional compensation, according to Hauping’s report.