| News about the Play Fair 2008 Campaign |
| News about the Current Labour Rights Situation in China |
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| Thursday, 20 March 2008 | |
During the months in the lead up to the Beijing Olympic Games many people are wondering if there have been any new developments with regard to labour rights in China. Play Fair has also received inquiries about the situation faced by those in China advocating for respect for workers’ rights. To help answer those questions the IHLO (ITUC/GUF/HKCTU Hong Kong Liaison Office) has prepared an overview for Play Fair 2008 of major labour news from China during recent months.
1) CHILD LABOURA series of child labour scandals, following the release of Play Fair 2008’s report “No medal for the Olympics on labour rights”, broke out in Dongguan, Guangdong Province. On 13 June 2007, a major newspaper in Guangdong Province reported that some 500 junior high school students from Sichuan Province complained that they were being abused through a work-study program that supplied young workers from western China to an electronics assembly plant in the southeastern industrial boomtown of Dongguan, as a form of compensation for their school fees. Students complained that they worked 14-hour days, including mandatory overtime, and that their money was withheld from them. They were not allowed to take any days off, not even sick leave. In some instances, those who wished to quit the program had no way of telephoning their families or paying for transportation home. The report coincided with the Play Fair 2008 report, in which one factory had been reported to have employed child labour in the manufacture of Olympic products.(1 ) [IHLO also wrote a short report on the use of school children: “Child labour and “work experience” in China – the blurred lines of illegality”, see www.ihlo.org/ ] 2) SLAVERYThe whole world was then shocked in late June 2007, when reports of slave labour in Shanxi brickworks dominated newspaper headlines. The scandal involving negligent law enforcement and even collusion between government officials and slave “masters” was exposed, after a group of some 400 parents from Henan Province, appealed to the public to help them find their missing children. The children, as well as many adult workers, guarded by fierce dogs and subjected to beatings by thugs, were forced to work at full pace to keep up with China’s construction boom. Though the ACFTU, the only official trade union allowed in China, has staff numbering over 100,000 people for just Shanxi Province alone, the problems of the Shanxi brick kiln manufacturing industry appeared to have gone unnoticed for many years. 95 officials (non from ACFTU), according to the press conference organized by the Shanxi provincial government, were reportedly punished in the wake of the scandal. However, most received only a warning, suspension from work for a limited period of time, and a demotion. (2 ) None of them have been severely punished or sentenced. [Additional information about this case is available at the IHLO website: http://www.ihlo.org/LRC/WC/150607b.html ] 3) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTHThe Huayuan coal mine accident, one of the worst mine accidents in the past years, took place on 17 August, killing 181 miners in a flood. Though the official media tried to label this as a “natural disaster”, evidence shows that it was more of a man-made catastrophe. [For a full overview and a brief analysis of this event, please see “No end in sight for deadly accidents that claim thousands of lives - The case of Huayuan coalmine – Not a “natural disaster”’, available at http://www.ihlo.org/LRC/WC/150607b.html ] 4) DETENTION OF ACTIVISTSa) Yang Chunlin (楊春林), a resident of Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province, was detained on July 6, 2007 and formally arrested on suspicion of "subversion of state power” on August 3. Yang’s arrest was apparently ordered by the Ministry of Public Security in Beijing. He is now being detained at Heitong Detention Center in Heilongjiang, and his family has not been allowed to visit him. Yang is believed to have been arrested for collecting signatures to endorse an open letter entitled “We Want Human Rights, not the Olympics” in villages where he had been helping farmers dealing with land disputes. The letter has reportedly been signed by more than 10,000 people, mostly Heilongjiang farmers who have lost their land. Many farmers fighting forced eviction in Heilongjiang signed the petition because they sympathized with victims of land loss in cities where corrupt officials used the Olympics as a pretense to grab land/housing while providing inadequate compensation. (3 ) Yang’s two lawyers expressed concerns that Yang was not allowed to speak with them about whether or not he was tortured in prison and concerns that their meeting with him in the detention center was monitored by the officials. b) Wang Guilin (王桂林) & Yu Changwu (于長武): They are villagers’ representatives from Fujin City, Heilongjiang Province, in Yang Chunlin’s “We Want Human Rights, not the Olympics” open letter action. Throughout the second half of 2007, Wang and Yu were often questioned, shortly detained, and monitored. On January 28, 2008, Wang Guilin was sent to one and a half years of Re-education Through Labour (RTL) for "disturbing social order". Another village representative, Yu Changwu, was also sent to two years of RTL on January 17. According to Yu's lawyer, his "crimes" include "violating state safety, disturbing social order, being interviewed by foreign media (especially Falungong media), releasing articles about China's land system on foreign websites, and saying 'we want our land, not the Olympics'" when speaking to reporters. Villagers in Fujin claim that city officials have appropriated 100,000 hectares of village land. They have been involved in a long-running land dispute with the local government, led by representatives, such as Yang Chunlin, Wang Guilin, and Yu Changwu, all three of whom have been detained for their defense of villagers' rights. c) Hu Jia (胡佳): Human rights activist Hu Jia has been charged with 'inciting subversion', in what appears to be the latest attempt by the Chinese authorities to silence domestic activists’ public criticism of China's human rights record. Hu Jia has been denied access to his lawyer, members of his family and medical treatment, including necessary daily medication for liver disease resulting from Hepatitis B infection. His wife, Zeng Jinyan, is still under house arrest with their newborn baby. She is not permitted to leave their home and her telephone line and internet connection have been cut. Hu Jia’s family were formally told of the charges by the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau (PSB) on 29 January 2008. He is being held at the Municipal PSB Detention Centre in Dougezhuang, Chaoyang district, Beijing. His lawyer, Li Jingsong, who is also being held under tight police surveillance, reportedly submitted an application for bail for Hu Jia on medical grounds in mid-January, but this was formally rejected by the police at the end of the month. Hu Jia’s formal detention, after being held for months under house arrest, appears to be an attempt to prevent him from continuing with his peaceful human rights activities and to silence his public criticism of China’s human rights record ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games. It also sends a message to other Chinese activists not to engage in similar activities. Prior to his formal detention, Hu Jia had publicly expressed concerns over human rights abuses by police in Beijing, including the arrest of activists without the necessary legal procedures. Politically-motivated subversion charges continue to be used to silence and imprison rights activists in China, including those like Hu Jia, who have been openly critical of China’s human rights record. In November 2007, Hu Jia participated via webcam in a European Union parliamentary hearing in Brussels in which he stated that China had failed to fulfill its promises to improve human rights in the run-up to the Olympics. [source AI UK] 5) CONTROL ON NGOS TIGHTENEDIt was a bad summer for China’s grassroots NGOs community. According to Nick Young, the director of the then China Development Brief (CDB), a non-profit newsletter that tracked the development of China’s civil society, staff from numerous organisations told CBD that they were experiencing increasingly intrusive monitoring and surveillance by security services in the run-up to October’s 17th Party Congress and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Several organisations were ordered to close and/or to cease publication of their “in house” periodicals, including CDB itself in July 2007. 6) VIOLENCE TARGETTING LABOUR ACTIVISTSIn recent weeks there have been a series of violent attacks on a labour group and its legal representative in Shenzhen. The Shenzhen Dagongzhe Centre (DGZ Centre) has been long supported by the general public and Hong Kong groups. It provides a free library, labour law education and free legal consultation to migrant workers in Shenzhen. In recent months, it has been involved in promoting knowledge around the “Labour Contract Law”, a new law the national government is introducing to help safeguard workers; and it has provided legal advice in order to defuse the current growing tension between employers and workers. On 11 Oct and 14 Nov 2007, a group of unknown and unidentified people came to destroy the properties of DGZ Centre. On 20 Nov, the representative of the centre, Huang Qingnan was attacked by two people with knives on the way to visit a injured worker, after just leaving the centre. Huang is seriously injured. In recent month, workers reported they had also been assaulted and verbally threatened by their employers when claiming their wages. Reports to the police have not met with success or interest. They are disappointed to find the local government behaving very indifferently. The attacks on the centre and Mr. Huang are examples of attempts to paralyze the implementation of this law, distorting the central government’s labour policies and openly revealing their dislike of independent labour organizations. If the DGZ Centre’s case is not properly followed up and no proper investigation is undertaken, it will send a regrettable and worrying message that violence prevails. Civil society groups in Shenzhen and also other parts of China would face more assaults and their development could be limited. According to workers from Longgang District, Baoan District and Dongguan City, workers are being beaten or verbally threatened when they try to claim their wages. Since the attack, local groups have worked with Hong Kong groups on the case, which was also taken up internationally by the ITUC and CCC, who sent protest letters to the local authorities. Funds have been raised for Mr. Huang’s extensive medical treatment. [For more details on this case please see IHLO’s report: http://www.ihlo.org/LRC/W/271107.html ] 7) LAUNCH OF “LABOUR CONTRACT LAW”After more than two years of drafting, debates, and anticipation, the labour contract law has been implemented since 1 Jan 2008. It is still too early to comment on whether or not the law is being respected by either employers or the local authorities. However, more labour disputes and mass lay-offs have taken place in the run up to the launch of the law. The new law – on paper at least – makes it harder for companies to fire workers at will and outlines specific compensation terms. The new law also imposes specific penalties for hiring workers without a contract – as of now hundreds and thousands of workers have no contract. China’s largest communications device producer, Huawei Technologies has shed almost 12 per cent of its 60,000 employees (around 7,000 to 10,000 workers) since the end of September in the form of voluntary retirement. “Although these former employees were paid compensation in accordance with the total number of years they had worked, most of them believe they had to leave against their will. Many of them had more than eight years of experience at Huawei.” Since the new law requires employers to guarantee the jobs of workers with more than ten years of experience until their official retirement age, these layoffs are an obvious attempt to avoid such obligations. [for more details, see IHLO’s report: http://www.ihlo.org/LRC/W/101207.html ] Notes: 1 The original Chinese report: http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2007-06-19/144712051182s.shtml 2 The original Chinese report: http://www.takungpao.com/news/07/07/17/MW-766423.htm 3 More background of Yang Chunlin’s case: http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class15/200709/20070904103042_5557.html |
