Proletariat of China... uh... unionize!
Friday, October 13, 2006 at 5:47AM I love citing Mei Fong articles. I dream of Mei Barnett writing for the WSJ someday.ARTICLE: "China to Press More Firms to Unionize," by Mei Fong, Wall Street Journal, 13 October 2006, p. A4.
Title of piece should really read "foreign firms."
China's always had trade unions, but they are basically tools of the state and represent the workers' true interests nada.
But with so many foreign firms, they actually take on a more legitimate role. So when Beijing gets notoriously anti-union Wal-Mart to agree to such unionization inside China, it gets a bit more confident, seeing this as another venue within which to tame the effects of foreign companies inside China.
This is a good thing. Good for the government. Good for workers. Good for the global economy. It's a much more legit application of workers' rights in China (not a huge step, mind you, but in the right direction). Plus, it will drive up the price of Chinese labor. An American labor leader is quoted in the piece as saying as much.
I recently got an email from a reader on this subject, asking whether it would be a good thing for China if such unions got more powerful. This is a nice, confirming bit of current evidence of movement in that direction.
Reader Comments (4)
Unionization always produces more of a drag on a unionized firm. This is why Walmart and other corporations avoid it when they can. Often it isn't even directly about money. Rather the cumbersome work rules process that go hand in hand with unionization make unionized firms slower to adjust, less able to keep up with best practices. This leads them to lag and eventually be eaten up by more nimble, efficient competitors.
Yes that is true, TM...but that's in our version of things.
China is actually using the unions as a mediation tool. They are utilizing them to keep closer and better tabs on the sways of the workers. A weird perversion of our notions of middle management.
"The ACFTU often is regarded not as an advocate for better pay and working conditions for employees but as an intermediary that represents employers to workers"
weird, eh?
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/gen/ap/China_Unions.html
China is doing what it often does: testing laws out on foreign companies first. I agree this may end up being a good thing.
Jacob's point is what I was reaching for, not some generalized defense of unions in the American environment.