Shifting Tide of Workers’ Rights in China

Workers’ Rights in China

One of the most heated topics of debate today in regards to China has to do with workers’ rights. There are millions of workers in China who are affected by this, due to the numerous domestic and foreign companies who have factories in China. There are many different kinds of companies operating out of China, including computer and keyboard manufacturers, textile companies, and garment/apparel industries. The products coming out of China today run the full spectrum of quality, ranging from generic household items to more sophisticated products such as wireless and ergonomic keyboards for high end markets.

“Asian Values”

The Chinese government rejects these accusations, stating that Asian values dictate that the collective welfare of the country is more important than individual citizen rights. If there is a clash between the collective and the individual, then the government feels it is entitled to persuade or coerce individuals to make sacrifices in order to accommodate the needs of the country. The Chinese government feels that it is important to maintain a strong authority over the people in order to regulate potentially conflicting interests between the country and its citizens.

Failure to Enforce

Despite the stated views of the Chinese government, they have been making efforts to improve workers’ rights by implementing new legislation, but the problem lies more with enforcement of said laws rather than problems with the actual law itself. Take the capital city of southern Guangdong province. This city is home to numerous Chinese factories. In the first two months of 2008, 5,385 labor dispute cases were filed here. According to local media, this number equals the number of cases filed in this area for all of 2001. On average, labor dispute cases are increasing by 30% a year. China is ill equipped to deal with these rising numbers due to a lack of resources to enforce these workers’ rights. They do not have enough money to adequately fund and staff arbitration committees and institutions, resulting in overworked and understaffed committees that cannot keep up with the amount of cases. Aware of these problems, the government created the Labor Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Law, which went into effect in 2008. Despite good intentions, this law may not really change anything.

New Legislation, Old Problems

This new labor law makes it easier for workers to seek arbitration and cuts down on time-consuming procedures that make cases drag one. It also makes arbitration rulings legally binding, extends the time limit for filing a case and eliminates the application fee. This all sounds great – but this law can only have an actual effect if arbitrators are fair and impartial. This is a problem since the people in charge of arbitration often have an interest in the success of the employers involved in arbitration cases because local governments often rely on companies for tax revenue and employment.

In order to actually enforce these labor laws, China needs to provide more financial resources and staff. It needs to invest in independent monitoring agencies with no financial interest that can ensure that cases are being dealt with correctly. China also needs to allow local media to report on labor disputes in order to bring public attention to unfair treatment. Until China changes more than just the law, the chance that workers will receive more rights is questionable.

Michael Simms is a tech writer for the computer hardware industry, focusing on the evolution of hardware manufacturing in East Asian countries. He has covered the transition from low value-add production to today’s one-stop-shop approach where the entire product lifecycle (e.g. wireless keyboards) is outsourced.