Brussels, 06/05/2004
Message from ETUC, and ICFTU to the European Commission
‘The Chinese government is taking advantage of a liberal global trade regime by systematically exploiting its workers and violating their human and labour rights. This is unacceptable and the European Commission should deliver a strong message to the Chinese delegation visiting Brussels', John Monks, General Secretary of the ETUC, stated today.
China has made repression of workers' rights a systematic part of state policy Independent trade unions are outlawed in China where only one state-controlled trade union centre is allowed to operate. Any strikes are rapidly repressed. Factory workers, who are mostly rural immigrants, which show any interest in trade unions face losing their permit to stay as well as the deposits they are (illegally, but very frequently) required to pay their employer. Workers' protections exist on paper but are rarely enforced by local officials and judges.
As a result working conditions in Chinese special economic zones have already reached the bottom and millions of jobs are moving from other developing countries to China. Worse, this threatens to unleash a ‘race to the bottom' in other countries.
The European Commission, while having trade and general discussions with a Chinese official delegation on 5 and 6 May, should insist that these practices are in major contradiction with internationally agreed core labour standards and cannot be tolerated. Technical discussions about market access cannot be allowed to push these fundamental issues to the background. A resolution of these concerns must be a precondition for progress in other areas.
Free trade can be a force for good but it must not become an excuse for worker's repression.