Labour disputes double in China

BEIJING: China has admitted that the economic slowdown has caused widespread discontent among industrial workers. The number of labour disputes
has doubled to nearly 700,000 in just one year. The cases involved 1.2 million workers in 2008.

The rise in the number of disputes is surprising because Chinese workers are compulsorily linked to one trade union controlled by the Communist Party of India and have no other choice in the matter. The new trend is also an indication of the recent legal reforms giving workers better opportunities to voice their discontent.

Yang Zhiming, vice minister of Human Resources and Social Security, has said there has been a 98 per cent increase in the number of labour disputes in 2008 when it rose to 693,000. He said that the number of workers involved in different labour cases has risen 90 per cent over 2007 and now covers 1.2 million.

Besides, China has seen a sharp increase in the number of demonstrations and protests by ordinary workers as factories resort to large scale retrenchment, wage cuts, production cutbacks and closure of selection production units and complete shutdown of industrial units.

The political leadership is extremely worried about the growing unrest ahead of the 20th anniversary of the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, sources said.

The minister indicated that the number of labour disputes were a lot more because government agencies have solved another 237,000 labour disputes through mediation.

Yang said that 22,000 of the collective labour disputes that have come up involve more than 23 workers in each case. The number of such cases involving more than 23 workers each has risen 71 per cent in 2008 over the previous year, he said.

Among the issues raised in disputes are demands by workers for protection of their basic rights like no lay-offs, payment of withheld wages and putting an end to delay in wage payments.

The government was using methods like mediation and arbitrage extensively to settle the labour disputes. The purpose is to both safeguard the interest of workers as well as assist industry to ride out the hard times, Yang said.

China's economy has grown at a much lower rate of 9 per cent in 2008 as compared to the 13 per cent growth clocked in 2007.