Labor Relations in Focus

The PRC government's efforts to better protect workers' rights spring from worries about China's social stability

by Victorien Wu

Since ascending to their leadership positions during the 2002-03 transition, PRC President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have expressed considerable concern about China's social stability and have emphasized the importance of balancing the country's development. This shift in policy priorities is not altogether surprising. PRC government statistics suggest that social unrest has grown significantly over the past few years. Beyond rural protests against illegal government seizures of agricultural land, worker demonstrations against wage arrears and other bread-and-butter issues have also made the headlines. Moreover, the number of labor disputes channeled through government-sanctioned dispute resolution processes has risen sharply in recent years.

In this context, the PRC government has undertaken several initiatives to demonstrate its resolve to better protect workers' rights. These have included the draft Labor Contract Law, issued for public comment last spring, and the renewed campaign by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) to unionize workers in foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs). These, along with the government's other labor-related campaigns, may mark the beginning of a more vigorous effort by the PRC government to mend labor relations in China.

The broader political agenda

Hu and Wen have, in comparison to their predecessors, placed a greater emphasis on helping those who have been left behind in China's reform efforts. Most notably, in December 2002, soon after he became secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Hu signaled a shift away from the policy direction set out by his predecessor Jiang Zemin, by taking the CCP leadership to visit Xibaipo village in Hebei. There, Hu recalled the Xibaipo Spirit of modesty, plain living, and hard work that Mao Zedong had called for in 1949. He also urged his colleagues to help build a "moderately well-off society" (xiaokang shehui), clearly suggesting that the CCP should tackle China's growing socioeconomic inequalities.

Hu's efforts to shift the CCP's policy agenda gained crucial momentum at the third plenum of the 16th CCP Central Committee in late 2003, when the Central Committee approved a key document that contrasted visibly with Jiang's report to the 16th CCP Congress in 2002. The document, named the Decision on Several Issues in Perfecting the Socialist Market Economy, paid more attention to the wide range of problems that have arisen as a result of China's reform efforts. It also emphasized "social development" as an integral component of the CCP's agenda.

Subsequently, in a speech to top cadres in February 2005, Hu said that building a "harmonious society" (hexie shehui) should be a priority for the CCP and the PRC government. He observed that "social conflicts are emerging in great numbers" and encouraged his colleagues to "balance different interests" and maintain "social equity and justice." Wen later echoed Hu's message in the PRC Government Work Report delivered at the March 2005 session of the National People's Congress when he declared that the government must "properly balance the interests of all quarters and ensure that everyone shares the fruits of reform and development."

These policy priorities are set to dominate and shape the PRC government's agenda for at least the next few years. Indeed, the CCP leadership has decisively rallied around Hu's "harmonious society" doctrine. In mid-October, the sixth plenum of the 16th CCP Central Committee—the CCP's first plenum to focus more on social development rather than political or economic issues—formally endorsed Hu's "harmonious society" doctrine, signaling broad support among China's top policymakers for Hu's agenda.

Equally important, China's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) indicates that the government will strengthen its efforts to construct a "harmonious society" and focus on social justice and the issues that most affect people's livelihoods. The specific goals of the plan include ensuring the use of labor contracts, improving labor dispute resolution mechanisms, protecting the legal rights of workers, and more closely supervising the labor market and the implementation of labor laws and regulations.

Rising labor disputes

The stress on building a "harmonious society" and better protecting workers' interests arises from signs that China's social stability is being tested. In early 2006, the PRC Ministry of Public Security announced that more than 87,000 "mass social disturbances" had occurred in 2005, up 6 percent from 2004 and 50 percent from 2003. More than 3.7 million people were involved in such incidents in 2004, but the ministry did not provide a comparable figure for 2005. The rise in the reported number of such disturbances, as well as widespread media reports of some of these incidents, have almost certainly raised concerns among China's policy elites about social unrest in general. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences revealed in its 2004 Blue Book of Chinese Society that more than half of the Chinese experts it interviewed believed that it is "possible" or "very likely" that China would face a "comprehensive social crisis."

Although the PRC government has not provided a rural-urban breakdown of its statistics on social unrest, other official statistics indicate the scope of worker discontent. In particular, the number of reported labor dispute cases has risen considerably in recent years. According to the PRC Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MLSS), roughly 314,000 labor disputes were submitted to government-sanctioned mediation and arbitration committees in 2005 alone (see Table 1). This figure is more than double the number of cases submitted in 2000 and nearly 10 times that of 1995. The number of workers involved in disputes also grew from 467,000 in 2001 to 740,000 in 2005. According to MLSS, employees filed roughly 94 percent of cases in 2005, with the remainder filed by employers. Disputes over wages, benefits, and social insurance accounted for 65 percent of all cases, while 18 percent arose from conflicts over the termination of labor contracts. The remainder stemmed from workplace injury, training, and layoffs. Interestingly, MLSS statistics show that the more economically developed coastal regions of China account for the majority of labor dispute cases. In 2005, 62.4 percent of dispute cases were submitted in Beijing, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Shanghai, and Zhejiang. While this may reflect the concentration of businesses along coastal areas, it also shows important pockets of disaffection in the regions that have benefited most from China's economic reforms.

Although the PRC government could take comfort in the fact that more than 90 percent of these cases are ultimately settled through the government-sanctioned dispute resolution process, it has chosen to take a starker view of these statistics. In its 2005 statistical report on labor disputes, MLSS interprets the fact that more cases were settled through arbitration rather than mediation as evidence that labor disputes tend to be highly contentious. MLSS has also chosen to interpret the higher success rate of workers in dispute cases as a sign that "infringement of workers' rights continues to be a prominent problem" (see Table 2).

The PRC government's wariness may be justified. According to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), workers may face important obstacles in submitting cases through the government-sanctioned dispute resolution process. First, workers do not have union representation during mediation, the initial step in dispute resolution. Second, the cost of submitting a dispute to the next stage of the process—arbitration—can be as high as ¥420 ($52.40), about half the average monthly wage of a Chinese worker. Though this may not be a problem for collective dispute cases, it presents a significant barrier to workers who seek to file individual cases. Finally, if both mediation and arbitration fail to solve the dispute, workers can file a lawsuit in court, but the costs of litigation can be prohibitive. These obstacles may discourage workers from using the dispute resolution process, and the reported number of dispute cases may not indicate the true magnitude of labor frictions.

Tables: Labor Dispute Cases in China, 2001-05 and Outcomees of Labor Dispute Cases, 2001-05 (% of cases)

Beyond statistical evidence that suggests the number of labor dispute cases is rising, there have been press reports of some worker demonstrations turning violent.

In June 2004, 5,000 Shenzhen workers clashed with police over wage arrears.
In January 2005, more than 1,000 workers in Shenzhen marched against the loss of severance pay, resulting in blocked roads, traffic jams, and violence.
In July 2005, 3,000 migrant workers at a garment factory in Guangzhou rioted over inadequate pay.
In September 2005, more than 100 workers at a shoe factory in Guangzhou battled police and smashed vehicles over unpaid wages.

It is unclear whether these violent incidents are representative of labor demonstrations in China. Indeed, the PRC government has not released statistics on the number and scope of labor-related protests. Nevertheless, these incidents highlight the potential explosiveness of labor discontent and likely heighten the PRC leadership's worries about labor relations in China.

Policy responses

Over the past several years, the PRC government has tried to improve the protection of workers' rights. In particular, the State Council and MLSS have issued directives to clear wage arrears for migrant workers whose previously ambiguous legal status and inadequate access to legal channels made them susceptible to abuse. The problem of unpaid wages for migrant workers may be particularly important because of their large numbers—officially estimated to be 120 million—and because the problem appears to be widespread. According to a State Council survey report released in April 2006, 51 percent of rural migrant workers reported "sometimes" or "frequently" having difficulty getting paid on time, and 76 percent said that they had not received overtime pay owed to them.

Over the past two years, the PRC government has also focused on promoting the use of labor contracts. The existing Labor Law requires labor contracts between employees and employers. But according to a National People's Congress survey in 2005, less than 20 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises use labor contracts, and the State Council survey report indicates that 46 percent of migrant workers lack labor contracts. In May 2005, MLSS issued a circular that directs employers of migrant workers to adopt labor contracts. Earlier this year, it launched a campaign to promote the use of labor contracts in all enterprises, with the goal of ensuring that at least 90 percent of all employees in China have contracts by the end of 2007.

Two responses have caught the attention of foreign investors: the draft Labor Contract Law and the renewed ACFTU campaign to unionize workers in FIEs. Observers have widely noted that many provisions in the draft Labor Contract Law appear to favor workers. For example, the draft law would require employers to seek the permission of the trade union before terminating any labor contract and to negotiate the terms of mass layoffs that involve more than 50 employees. The draft law also indicates that if an employer and an employee disagree over the interpretation of a labor contract, the ambiguity should be resolved in favor of the employee.

Meanwhile, ACFTU has reenergized its efforts to establish trade unions in FIEs, claiming that its campaign is in response to the need to better protect the rights of FIE workers. Some labor experts have noted, however, that as more Chinese are finding employment in private and foreign-invested companies, ACFTU may have undertaken this campaign to boost its membership and revenue. (Enterprises that have trade unions must appropriate a sum equal to 2 percent of their total monthly payroll to the trade union each month.) In 2004, ACFTU announced a campaign to recruit 6.6 million workers every year until 2008. This is presumably translating into a greater effort to establish unions in private firms and FIEs as the state-owned sector shrinks.

Whether these various measures will succeed in better protecting workers' rights is unclear. In general, implementation of national laws and regulations, as well as campaigns initiated from the top, are easily thwarted by local authorities intent on boosting their GDP and thus reluctant to strictly enforce central government directives that may hinder local economic growth (see the CBR September-October 2006, p.52). Indeed, as in the area of intellectual property rights and environmental protection, observers have noted that the primary reason for the weak protection of workers' rights is not an inadequate legal framework, but rather the poor enforcement of China's existing labor laws and regulations. CECC notes in its 2006 annual report that "the Chinese government's failure to implement existing labor regulations ... renders most of the protective aspects of Chinese labor law ineffective." For example, even though MLSS regulations require provincial authorities to review their minimum wage levels every two years, MLSS reported that at least four provinces were noncompliant in 2006.

In late 2004, MLSS began to establish a system of labor inspection to ensure local compliance with China's labor laws and regulations. Whether such a system will achieve its intended goal is unclear because it delegates inspection authority to the local labor and social security bureaus— whose mandate, in the first place, is to enforce the laws and regulations.

Foreign investors' concerns

Available statistics suggest that FIEs account for a disproportionately small share of labor dispute cases, given that they provide one-third of China's industrial value-added output and more than half of its exports (see Figure). This may be because US and other foreign investors tend to bring their international human resources practices and environmental health and safety standards, which often exceed local requirements, to their China facilities. Nevertheless, the steps that the PRC government has taken to strengthen labor rights have caught the attention of foreign investors in China. In general, foreign companies and business associations have affirmed the PRC government's goal of protecting workers' rights. The growth of social unrest in China could harm the business climate, and uniform enforcement of labor laws and protection of workers' rights could help level the playing field for all firms operating in China. At the same time, however, foreign companies have also expressed concerns about some aspects of recent government moves.

Foreign companies and business associations have affirmed the PRC government's goal of protecting workers' rights.

For example, they have noted that certain provisions of the draft Labor Contract Law might conflict with international practices in human resources management and deprive employers and employees of the flexibility necessary to handle employment relationships effectively. The draft law, for instance, requires employers that use a labor service company to sign only one fixed-term contract with the employee. At the end of the contract, the employer must hire the employee directly. If it does not, the employer cannot use a labor service company to hire a different person for the same position. This may prevent employers from finding the best person and may result in fewer job opportunities for Chinese workers. Thus, the law could have the unintended consequence of negatively affecting Chinese workers, and for companies that uphold China's laws and regulations, including US and other foreign firms, the Labor Contract Law, if implemented in its current form, could make operating in China more cumbersome.

As the PRC government finalizes the Labor Contract Law and undertakes other initiatives to address widespread grievances among China's workers, foreign businesses hope that their concerns will be taken into account. In the meantime, better enforcement of existing laws and regulations would go a long way toward removing the difficulties that Chinese employees face in their workplaces.

Victorien Wu is assistant editor of the CBR.

Subscribe/Renew CBR Archives Advertise in CBR Print Advertising Online Advertising Request Media Kit Business Directory Online Store Links Departments China Conference Calendar Sponsored by: China Business USCBC Bulletin US & PRC Contacts Travel Savvy NEW! Business Resources Short Takes Critical Eye Commentary Interview Company Profile Opportunities Reviews Last Page Join the CBR mailing list to receive updates and announcements. Timely, relevant publications on the Chinese business climate	Home About Us Contact Staff Join Our Team For Contributors For Journalists FAQ
	E-Mail \| Print \| License Labor Relations in Focus The PRC government's efforts to better protect workers' rights spring from worries about China's social stability by Victorien Wu Since ascending to their leadership positions during the 2002-03 transition, PRC President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have expressed considerable concern about China's social stability and have emphasized the importance of balancing the country's development. This shift in policy priorities is not altogether surprising. PRC government statistics suggest that social unrest has grown significantly over the past few years. Beyond rural protests against illegal government seizures of agricultural land, worker demonstrations against wage arrears and other bread-and-butter issues have also made the headlines. Moreover, the number of labor disputes channeled through government-sanctioned dispute resolution processes has risen sharply in recent years. In this context, the PRC government has undertaken several initiatives to demonstrate its resolve to better protect workers' rights. These have included the draft Labor Contract Law, issued for public comment last spring, and the renewed campaign by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) to unionize workers in foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs). These, along with the government's other labor-related campaigns, may mark the beginning of a more vigorous effort by the PRC government to mend labor relations in China. The broader political agenda Hu and Wen have, in comparison to their predecessors, placed a greater emphasis on helping those who have been left behind in China's reform efforts. Most notably, in December 2002, soon after he became secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Hu signaled a shift away from the policy direction set out by his predecessor Jiang Zemin, by taking the CCP leadership to visit Xibaipo village in Hebei. There, Hu recalled the Xibaipo Spirit of modesty, plain living, and hard work that Mao Zedong had called for in 1949. He also urged his colleagues to help build a "moderately well-off society" (xiaokang shehui), clearly suggesting that the CCP should tackle China's growing socioeconomic inequalities. Hu's efforts to shift the CCP's policy agenda gained crucial momentum at the third plenum of the 16th CCP Central Committee in late 2003, when the Central Committee approved a key document that contrasted visibly with Jiang's report to the 16th CCP Congress in 2002. The document, named the Decision on Several Issues in Perfecting the Socialist Market Economy, paid more attention to the wide range of problems that have arisen as a result of China's reform efforts. It also emphasized "social development" as an integral component of the CCP's agenda. Subsequently, in a speech to top cadres in February 2005, Hu said that building a "harmonious society" (hexie shehui) should be a priority for the CCP and the PRC government. He observed that "social conflicts are emerging in great numbers" and encouraged his colleagues to "balance different interests" and maintain "social equity and justice." Wen later echoed Hu's message in the PRC Government Work Report delivered at the March 2005 session of the National People's Congress when he declared that the government must "properly balance the interests of all quarters and ensure that everyone shares the fruits of reform and development." These policy priorities are set to dominate and shape the PRC government's agenda for at least the next few years. Indeed, the CCP leadership has decisively rallied around Hu's "harmonious society" doctrine. In mid-October, the sixth plenum of the 16th CCP Central Committee—the CCP's first plenum to focus more on social development rather than political or economic issues—formally endorsed Hu's "harmonious society" doctrine, signaling broad support among China's top policymakers for Hu's agenda. Equally important, China's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) indicates that the government will strengthen its efforts to construct a "harmonious society" and focus on social justice and the issues that most affect people's livelihoods. The specific goals of the plan include ensuring the use of labor contracts, improving labor dispute resolution mechanisms, protecting the legal rights of workers, and more closely supervising the labor market and the implementation of labor laws and regulations. Rising labor disputes The stress on building a "harmonious society" and better protecting workers' interests arises from signs that China's social stability is being tested. In early 2006, the PRC Ministry of Public Security announced that more than 87,000 "mass social disturbances" had occurred in 2005, up 6 percent from 2004 and 50 percent from 2003. More than 3.7 million people were involved in such incidents in 2004, but the ministry did not provide a comparable figure for 2005. The rise in the reported number of such disturbances, as well as widespread media reports of some of these incidents, have almost certainly raised concerns among China's policy elites about social unrest in general. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences revealed in its 2004 Blue Book of Chinese Society that more than half of the Chinese experts it interviewed believed that it is "possible" or "very likely" that China would face a "comprehensive social crisis." Although the PRC government has not provided a rural-urban breakdown of its statistics on social unrest, other official statistics indicate the scope of worker discontent. In particular, the number of reported labor dispute cases has risen considerably in recent years. According to the PRC Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MLSS), roughly 314,000 labor disputes were submitted to government-sanctioned mediation and arbitration committees in 2005 alone (see Table 1). This figure is more than double the number of cases submitted in 2000 and nearly 10 times that of 1995. The number of workers involved in disputes also grew from 467,000 in 2001 to 740,000 in 2005. According to MLSS, employees filed roughly 94 percent of cases in 2005, with the remainder filed by employers. Disputes over wages, benefits, and social insurance accounted for 65 percent of all cases, while 18 percent arose from conflicts over the termination of labor contracts. The remainder stemmed from workplace injury, training, and layoffs. Interestingly, MLSS statistics show that the more economically developed coastal regions of China account for the majority of labor dispute cases. In 2005, 62.4 percent of dispute cases were submitted in Beijing, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Shanghai, and Zhejiang. While this may reflect the concentration of businesses along coastal areas, it also shows important pockets of disaffection in the regions that have benefited most from China's economic reforms. Although the PRC government could take comfort in the fact that more than 90 percent of these cases are ultimately settled through the government-sanctioned dispute resolution process, it has chosen to take a starker view of these statistics. In its 2005 statistical report on labor disputes, MLSS interprets the fact that more cases were settled through arbitration rather than mediation as evidence that labor disputes tend to be highly contentious. MLSS has also chosen to interpret the higher success rate of workers in dispute cases as a sign that "infringement of workers' rights continues to be a prominent problem" (see Table 2). The PRC government's wariness may be justified. According to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), workers may face important obstacles in submitting cases through the government-sanctioned dispute resolution process. First, workers do not have union representation during mediation, the initial step in dispute resolution. Second, the cost of submitting a dispute to the next stage of the process—arbitration—can be as high as ¥420 ($52.40), about half the average monthly wage of a Chinese worker. Though this may not be a problem for collective dispute cases, it presents a significant barrier to workers who seek to file individual cases. Finally, if both mediation and arbitration fail to solve the dispute, workers can file a lawsuit in court, but the costs of litigation can be prohibitive. These obstacles may discourage workers from using the dispute resolution process, and the reported number of dispute cases may not indicate the true magnitude of labor frictions. Beyond statistical evidence that suggests the number of labor dispute cases is rising, there have been press reports of some worker demonstrations turning violent. In June 2004, 5,000 Shenzhen workers clashed with police over wage arrears. In January 2005, more than 1,000 workers in Shenzhen marched against the loss of severance pay, resulting in blocked roads, traffic jams, and violence. In July 2005, 3,000 migrant workers at a garment factory in Guangzhou rioted over inadequate pay. In September 2005, more than 100 workers at a shoe factory in Guangzhou battled police and smashed vehicles over unpaid wages. It is unclear whether these violent incidents are representative of labor demonstrations in China. Indeed, the PRC government has not released statistics on the number and scope of labor-related protests. Nevertheless, these incidents highlight the potential explosiveness of labor discontent and likely heighten the PRC leadership's worries about labor relations in China. Policy responses Over the past several years, the PRC government has tried to improve the protection of workers' rights. In particular, the State Council and MLSS have issued directives to clear wage arrears for migrant workers whose previously ambiguous legal status and inadequate access to legal channels made them susceptible to abuse. The problem of unpaid wages for migrant workers may be particularly important because of their large numbers—officially estimated to be 120 million—and because the problem appears to be widespread. According to a State Council survey report released in April 2006, 51 percent of rural migrant workers reported "sometimes" or "frequently" having difficulty getting paid on time, and 76 percent said that they had not received overtime pay owed to them. Over the past two years, the PRC government has also focused on promoting the use of labor contracts. The existing Labor Law requires labor contracts between employees and employers. But according to a National People's Congress survey in 2005, less than 20 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises use labor contracts, and the State Council survey report indicates that 46 percent of migrant workers lack labor contracts. In May 2005, MLSS issued a circular that directs employers of migrant workers to adopt labor contracts. Earlier this year, it launched a campaign to promote the use of labor contracts in all enterprises, with the goal of ensuring that at least 90 percent of all employees in China have contracts by the end of 2007. Two responses have caught the attention of foreign investors: the draft Labor Contract Law and the renewed ACFTU campaign to unionize workers in FIEs. Observers have widely noted that many provisions in the draft Labor Contract Law appear to favor workers. For example, the draft law would require employers to seek the permission of the trade union before terminating any labor contract and to negotiate the terms of mass layoffs that involve more than 50 employees. The draft law also indicates that if an employer and an employee disagree over the interpretation of a labor contract, the ambiguity should be resolved in favor of the employee. Meanwhile, ACFTU has reenergized its efforts to establish trade unions in FIEs, claiming that its campaign is in response to the need to better protect the rights of FIE workers. Some labor experts have noted, however, that as more Chinese are finding employment in private and foreign-invested companies, ACFTU may have undertaken this campaign to boost its membership and revenue. (Enterprises that have trade unions must appropriate a sum equal to 2 percent of their total monthly payroll to the trade union each month.) In 2004, ACFTU announced a campaign to recruit 6.6 million workers every year until 2008. This is presumably translating into a greater effort to establish unions in private firms and FIEs as the state-owned sector shrinks. Whether these various measures will succeed in better protecting workers' rights is unclear. In general, implementation of national laws and regulations, as well as campaigns initiated from the top, are easily thwarted by local authorities intent on boosting their GDP and thus reluctant to strictly enforce central government directives that may hinder local economic growth (see the CBR September-October 2006, p.52). Indeed, as in the area of intellectual property rights and environmental protection, observers have noted that the primary reason for the weak protection of workers' rights is not an inadequate legal framework, but rather the poor enforcement of China's existing labor laws and regulations. CECC notes in its 2006 annual report that "the Chinese government's failure to implement existing labor regulations ... renders most of the protective aspects of Chinese labor law ineffective." For example, even though MLSS regulations require provincial authorities to review their minimum wage levels every two years, MLSS reported that at least four provinces were noncompliant in 2006. In late 2004, MLSS began to establish a system of labor inspection to ensure local compliance with China's labor laws and regulations. Whether such a system will achieve its intended goal is unclear because it delegates inspection authority to the local labor and social security bureaus— whose mandate, in the first place, is to enforce the laws and regulations. Foreign investors' concerns Available statistics suggest that FIEs account for a disproportionately small share of labor dispute cases, given that they provide one-third of China's industrial value-added output and more than half of its exports (see Figure). This may be because US and other foreign investors tend to bring their international human resources practices and environmental health and safety standards, which often exceed local requirements, to their China facilities. Nevertheless, the steps that the PRC government has taken to strengthen labor rights have caught the attention of foreign investors in China. In general, foreign companies and business associations have affirmed the PRC government's goal of protecting workers' rights. The growth of social unrest in China could harm the business climate, and uniform enforcement of labor laws and protection of workers' rights could help level the playing field for all firms operating in China. At the same time, however, foreign companies have also expressed concerns about some aspects of recent government moves. Foreign companies and business associations have affirmed the PRC government's goal of protecting workers' rights. For example, they have noted that certain provisions of the draft Labor Contract Law might conflict with international practices in human resources management and deprive employers and employees of the flexibility necessary to handle employment relationships effectively. The draft law, for instance, requires employers that use a labor service company to sign only one fixed-term contract with the employee. At the end of the contract, the employer must hire the employee directly. If it does not, the employer cannot use a labor service company to hire a different person for the same position. This may prevent employers from finding the best person and may result in fewer job opportunities for Chinese workers. Thus, the law could have the unintended consequence of negatively affecting Chinese workers, and for companies that uphold China's laws and regulations, including US and other foreign firms, the Labor Contract Law, if implemented in its current form, could make operating in China more cumbersome. As the PRC government finalizes the Labor Contract Law and undertakes other initiatives to address widespread grievances among China's workers, foreign businesses hope that their concerns will be taken into account. In the meantime, better enforcement of existing laws and regulations would go a long way toward removing the difficulties that Chinese employees face in their workplaces. Victorien Wu is assistant editor of the CBR. Further Reading China's Changing Labor Relations Beyonds Codes of Conduct Click here for copyright permissions Copyright 2007 US-China Business Council Top of Page Table of Contents
	Permissions Copyright Information Privacy Policy The US-China Business Council © 1997-2008 by the US-China Business Council. All rights reserved.

Departments