Twenty-seven House Democrats called on the Bush administration to support China’s new Draft Labor Law Contract. The law, which is being considered by the Chinese government, would put in place some of the core internationally-recognized workers’ rights that are common in many other countries.
For example, the proposed law would require employers to negotiate with a trade union before a mass layoff and give workers severance pay for certain kinds of terminations.
While these reforms, standing alone, would not guarantee the full range of basic workers’ rights, they are a step in the right direction. The letter was spearheaded by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), who is poised to become chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, and Democratic Reps. Lynn Woolsey (Calif.), Barbara Lee (Calif.) and Barney Frank (Mass.).
Last month, a report by the Boston-based think tank Global Labor Strategies condemned the U.S. business community for making recommendations to the Chinese government that would gut the proposed law. According to the report:
The obvious motive for such foreign corporations to oppose the law protecting Chinese workers is their fear that it may eliminate the cheap labor costs they now enjoy.
For example, the American Chamber of Commerce People’s Republic of China said in its comments that under the new law, employers “would be inclined to hire fewer people to economize on labor costs.”
Rep. Lee says such comments show that U.S. companies in China do not respect workers’ rights.
This duplicitous U.S. corporate campaign discredits the long-professed claims of many U.S. corporate leaders and testimony before Congress that U.S. companies and investors in China de facto are leading by example, to respect the basic human rights of all Chinese workers and improve their working conditions and living standards.
An aide to Woolsey told the Daily Labor Report (subscription required) that if the administration does not weigh in on the issue, Woolsey will introduce legislation recognizing the desire among of a number of legislators to improve labor laws in China.
In July, the Bush administration’s U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) rejected for a second time an AFL-CIO petition demanding that the U.S. impose trade sanctions on China if it continued to violate core workers’ rights. The petition asserted that systematic violation of workers’ rights in China artificially represses wages, providing an unfair advantage to products made in China.
The AFL-CIO, along with Rep. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who was elected to the U.S. Senate Tuesday, and Rep. Chris Smith (R- N.J.), filed the petition charging China’s government systematically denies workers’ basic rights, such as the freedom to form unions. Further, the petition documents how China’s failure to protect workers’ rights is an unfair trade practice that costs U.S. jobs.
The petition, which was supported by some 40 members of the U.S. House and Senate, called on President Bush to use his authority under U.S. law to impose sanctions against China or take other actions to remedy the situation. In June alone, more than 68,000 workers across the nation sent e-mails to President Bush and Congress urging immediate action to halt the abuse of China’s workers.
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