It is fair and important for workers to come together to form unions which have a voice in the workplace where employers also have their own organizations. Under the new rules, after China's Employment Contract Law took effect on January 1, 2008, unions will play a greater role.
According to the law, the local government, trade unions and employers should sit down together and decide policy issues concerning the labor relationship.
Mark Wells, an Australian lawyer in the Beijing-based Zhenbang Law Firm, sees it as progress because it makes it possible for different interest groups to come together and reach agreements on the industrial relationship. "You can't have a situation where employers take care of everything and dictate every rule that workers should follow," he said.
Foreign businesses in China, for example, have organized groups. Chambers of commerce formed by foreign investors, the American Chamber and the European Chamber particularly, do heavy lobbying to influence new regulations including the Employment Contract Law.
Mr. Wells believes that by playing a bigger positive role, trade unions will bring "a harmonious working life, harmonious working groups and harmonious industry."
As Xie Liangmin, an official with the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, said in another interview with People's Daily Online, foreign businesses, especially those from developed economies, were very reluctant to have trade unions in their China operations.
But they usually change their attitude and became increasingly cooperative with trade unions once trade unions were established. Bosses realized that trade unions in China were more willing to build a harmonious relationship with employers than trade unions in most other countries, according Mr. Xie's observation.
By People's Daily Online
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