December 19, 2006
US-based corporations are opposing legislation to give Chinese workers new labor rights.
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 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.
Low wages and poor working conditions in China drive down those in the rest of the world in a “race to the bottom.” 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. Read more….
http://laborstrategies.blogs.com/global_labor_strategies/files/behind_the_great_wall_of_china.pdf