Broadcast 1 March 2003

On February 10, workers at the Luyuan Timber Company Ltd., Suichang County, Zhejiang Province staged a strike which lasted for 2 weeks. It is reported that the strike ended after some of the workers’ demands had been satisfied. These include the arrangement of early retirement for those who are going to reach the retirement age, and priority employment for 100 workers from the original factory when the new factory building reopens. However, up until now, there has been no response to the workers’ demand for an investigation into the illegal practices of the factory leadership. China Labour Bulletin’s interview with the Chairman of the Suichang County Trade Union shows that the absence of a proper labour union often leads to deepened conflicts in labour disputes which could have been otherwise resolved. The following is Han Dongfang’s interview with Chairman Shi of the Suichang County Trade Union:

Chairman:

We have sent somebody to the county for the meeting – a vice chairman.

Han Dongfang:

When did he go to the meeting?

Chairman:

Yesterday. He hasn’t come back yet, I haven’t heard about it [the meeting].

Han:

Did the workers return to work today?

Chairman:

I’m not sure about this. Maybe not. I… yesterday…I went there the day before yesterday, I went there when it happened. The county organized a meeting with the relevant departments the next day, trying to settle the problem.

Han:

What are the chief demands of the workers?

Chairman:

It is mainly about contracts. The contracts will expire soon, and the workers have some opinions on the issue. They want the factory to disclose more about the factory management… and so on. Also the expiration of the contracts involves compensation. Moreover, the factory has transformed into a share-system enterprise and the workers are not so clear about the system. So they demand the right to know – the right to know means asking the factory to tell them more about its situation…like an analysis [examination] of its financial condition. The staff hold shares in the enterprise, but they don’t know anything about the value of each share. So they are demanding an audit.

Han:

Is the enterprise moving?

Chairman:

That’s the case. The relocation is mainly due to a new project – a high density fabric board [product]. They probably wanted to start this new project because some of the staff contracts are coming to an end. Also, this project probably requires more advanced technology, and they wanted to employ some other staff with better techniques and education. These people (the current workers) would probably find it difficult to be reinstated. I think this situation is related to the employment of the staff. So, the workers are worrying about their future after the expiration of their contracts.

Han:

This means that when the factory carries out a new project, it dismisses all the old workers?

Chairman:

Mainly the contracted staff. The contract has come to an end – it is a 3-year contract.

Han:

But are these contract workers originally the permanent workers in the past?

Chairman:

Some of them. We don’t have the full figures yet. In Suichang, this enterprise is quite a good one, its probably a relatively good enterprise in the whole of the Lishui District. This incident really surprises us. The gist of the problem is that the contract workers took things too hard because their contracts are coming to an end this year. When the production stopped, the relevant departments in our county, including the County Head, the Economic Committee, the Labor Department and also the trade union all went there and exchanged views with the staff. Now our work is to bring back the voice of the staff, and the county government is negotiating with the relevant departments on the worker’s proposals. They are probably working on this these last two days.

Han:

What’s the view of the trade union?

Chairman:

I… I am not there [at the enterprise] right now. When I went there last time, I asked the staff to clarify the situation, like the issues that they wanted me to report on. The staff have brought out 7 to 8 issues; I read them, and what a mess! So I asked them to organize their views and omit the redundant parts. You raised those questions... like, the right to know the facts? What facts [exactly] do you want to know? Right? You want to know about the factory management etc. These are all reasonable demands. I asked them to write down their demands, and hand them to me this morning. But they haven’t come yet.

Han:

Is there a trade union in the factory?

Chairman

Yes, there is. But the function of the trade union in the factory is not that much, perhaps.
(laugh)

Han:

Why?

Chairman:

It [the enterprise] doesn’t do very well in this aspect. Among these large enterprises, the work of the trade union of this [particular] enterprise is rather weak.

Han:

Why does this trade union functions badly?

Chairman:

This chairman of the trade union is also the vice president [of the enterprise]. Perhaps the vice president doesn’t pay much attention to the union work. This is related to… to the leadership of this enterprise.

Han:

Is the chairman called Zhang Xingguo?

Chairman:

No! Mr. Guan, Guan Keqin.

Han:

But the factory information shows that Guan Keqin is the chief of the production, is this not the case?

Chairman:

Right.

Han:

Was he the former CEO?

Chairman:

Right.

Han:

What does Zhang Xingquo do then?

Chairman:

Zhang Xingguo was recruited at a later stage.

Han:

What is his duty?

Chairman:

He used to be a deputy director of Economic and Trade Committee in Suichang County. Later the factory recruited him. He is a manager of the factory.

Han:

Yet the information here says that Zhang Xingguo was the Vice Chairman of the county’s trade union. Is this correct?

Chairman:

Yes. Yes. He should know something in this area. The boss recruited him to look after production and management, so he is part of the factory leadership. There is a trade union in his factory, and this trade union, as I told you before, does not function properly, which is related to its leadership. In my opinion, they lack the spirit of democracy. For example, the Association of Staff Representatives, or the shareholders’ general meetings… they all don’t function very well.

Han:

Should the enterprise’s trade union be held responsible for its improper functioning? Or the county trade union?

Chairman:

Of course we are partly responsible for it! We often exchange views with the boss of the factory to carry out some of our work. For example, about the disclosure of the factory’s business, we often go there to see whether they have done it well…usually they do it perfunctorily. Also, we often advise them on how to publicize the factory business in accordance with government stipulations, like to what extent should the business be disclosed? What to disclose? We’ve told them many times, but when we called them later on to follow up, they didn’t make many changes [we suggested].

Han:

Why didn’t the trade union carry out some hard line policies?

Chairman:

It is useless! What kind of action should the trade union take? I’m not saying that it is totally useless, but the result is not that obvious. This enterprise… this enterprise is a comparatively large enterprise in our county, and it’s rather hard to deal with such a large enterprise. Things are often like this: if you want to talk to them… then… how to say this… they would contact the leadership in the county directly and the company, or…it means if we talk to them, we would encounter difficulties in dealing with the county leadership and the superiors in the departments.

Han:

Yet according to the stipulation of the trade union, if an enterprise breaks the law, the trade union can sue the enterprise, right?

Chairman:

Of course it can. That’s why in the strike and petitions, we are doing some surveys. As I said, this enterprise is quite prominent in this region. Its profit usually reaches 50 to 60 million on average, or even 70 to 80 million. It is remarkable in such a small, hilly county. And this covers up many problems in its democratic administration. The staff in such a situation…if their contracts are not going to end, they can get a monthly salary of 800 to 1000RMB, plus bonus. It is quite an attractive salary in our county. So they don’t want to go to other places, like other workers in our region. This time, we are talking about termination of contract. Once the contract terminates, it is not the same, because all the good employment conditions come to an end. Nothing left. So they dwell on the issue, and raise questions that they were not interested in the past – questions after questions. The key point is that the workers will in reality become unemployed, right? The question about unemployment would definitely stir up their emotions. If the enterprise had continued the production in the old building, and carried out the new project, I think the conflict would have been concealed there. Usually it wouldn’t be a big problem, as the income of workers is stable in general.

Under the current reform of the state enterprise, workers are in a disadvantaged position when facing to the management of the enterprise. The main reason is that workers do not have a labour union that truly works for them. In the reformed and reforming state enterprises, it can be said that the trade union is under the control of the management. The worker’s strike in Luyuan Timber Company Ltd tells us that the labour unions of China must reform. The Union should be under the control of workers. Not only would this ensure worker’s rights, but would also help reform process of the state enterprises.