High-profile strikes at Honda and other factories have put workers in southern China on the verge of gaining new rights, campaigners believe.
Officials in Guangdong province – for years the country's manufacturing heartland – are debating proposals which activists say could be a landmark, allowing workers to democratically elect representatives to carry out collective bargaining.
"The pressure of low pay, long working hours and poor working conditions that gave rise to the wave of strikes across Guangdong have elicited a timely and positive response from the government," said Han Dongfang, executive director of the Hong Kong-based group China Labour Bulletin.
He said it showed an important change in the government's attitude towards workers' reasonable economic demands.
According to Chinese media, the revised draft law states that if more than a fifth of the workforce at a factory ask for wage negotiations with management, the trade union branch must organise the democratic election of representatives. If the company does not have a union, the nearest district union must arrange the vote. Union leaders in China are appointed officials and independent unions are not permitted.
Han said that although collective consultation already exists in theory, it was not effective. While officials did sometimes raise grievances with management, they almost always dropped the matter if the business failed to respond. The new rules would force unions to act and allow workers to pick the people speaking for them.
The Guardian
