In group labor disputes, enterprise trade unions are often an embarrassing role. For various reasons, in labor conflicts, trade unions either stand by and do nothing, or stand on the side of enterprises.
A series of group labor disputes, represented by the Honda incident in the South China Sea, have pushed trade unions to the forefront. In view of the new situation of labor relations, how to reform trade unions has become the focus of the problem.
Qiao Jian, director of the Labor Relations Department of China Institute of Labor Relations, said that the current top-down mode of establishing trade unions blurs the nature of enterprise trade unions, which leads to a serious lack of independence and unclear positioning of trade unions. Trade unions in most enterprises concentrate on organizing labor competitions and do little in safeguarding rights.
A typical example, in a collective labor dispute, workers turned to the enterprise trade union for help, and the trade union staff replied: "Our trade union does not interfere in the affairs of both employers and employees!"
In view of the inaction of trade unions, Wu Yaping, a professor at the Trade Union Department of China Institute of Labor Relations, suggested that the functions and functions of trade unions and industrial trade unions should be strengthened in the establishment of trade union organizations.
In order to realize the independence of trade unions, other market economy countries often establish trade unions under industries or industries. If there is a labor dispute, it is often the industrial trade union that negotiates on behalf of the workers.
However, in China, the trade union system of industries and industries is not perfect, which leads to the embarrassment of the lack of negotiating subjects in the promotion of collective bargaining, and then leads to the lack of nominal collective contracts and real labor-capital negotiations.
Trade union reform also includes an important content: professionalization and socialization of trade union cadres. Zhang said that the ACFTU is actively exploring the professionalization and socialization of trade union cadres, and some pilot projects are under way. However, some experts object to this, arguing that under the current system, it is difficult to effectively change the functions of trade unions through the professionalization of trade union cadres.
There are arguments and opinions. Experts attending the meeting agreed that the key to solving collective labor disputes is to protect the rights of workers through laws.
On June 24-28, the on-site experience exchange meeting of collective wage negotiation of national trade unions was held in Yingkou City, Liaoning Province. The outside world believes that the most important reason for holding this exchange meeting is a series of labor conflicts such as Foxconn employees committing suicide by jumping off a building and Honda workers' strike in May and June this year. This makes "collective wage negotiation" once again become the focus of social attention.
In fact, the mode of "collective negotiation and wage determination" promoted by trade unions has been implemented for more than 10 years, and some sample places have achieved remarkable results in recent two years. However, according to Zhang, vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, at the National People's Congress in March this year, there are130,000 enterprises in China, and nearly 80% of them have not yet established a collective wage negotiation system.
Obviously, there is still a long way to go to make the seemingly beautiful system of collective wage negotiation truly beautiful.
Although trade unions face many difficulties in implementing the collective wage negotiation system, there are still some grass-roots trade unions actively exploring new models. Xinhe town, Wenling, Zhejiang established the "Trade Union" as one of them.
In fact, collective wage negotiation is not a new term. As early as April 1992, the new trade union law was promulgated, stipulating that trade unions in enterprises and institutions can sign collective contracts with units on behalf of employees. But until recent years, the knowledge of collective wage negotiation has gradually formed.
Professor Xu Xiaojun from the Trade Union Department of China Institute of Labor Relations pointed out the reasons: "At present, China has entered a period of high incidence of mass incidents caused by labor-capital conflicts, especially the emergence of more and more' unexpected events' such as strikes and road blocking, and it is urgent to explore some effective means to prevent or even eliminate these behaviors. Therefore, we have seen that the central high-level officials have repeatedly stressed on different occasions that the wage collective negotiation system should be used to mediate the contradiction between labor and capital. "
According to the statistics of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, in 2009 alone, there were 5 1.9 million labor disputes caused by wage distribution in China.
The sharp increase in labor disputes has directly created a scene of "thriving" wage collective bargaining system. It is reported that up to now, 13 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have issued documents in the name of party committees or governments to promote collective wage negotiations, and 23 provincial (autonomous regions and municipalities) people's congresses have formulated local regulations such as the Regulations on Collective Contracts or the Regulations on Collective Contracts.
But even so, the implementation of collective wage negotiation is not ideal. According to the relevant person in charge of the grass-roots work department of Guangzhou Federation of Trade Unions, since June 2008, Guangzhou has carried out pilot work of collective wage negotiation in 53 enterprises, but up to now, 20% of the pilot enterprises still "only hear thunder, but don't see little rain" for various reasons. Even those companies that agree to sign the agreement are mostly just a formality. "Many times, bosses don't want to talk, trade unions don't dare to talk, and employees don't talk." The person in charge said shyly.
In fact, even as a sample of Wenling, there are "troubles". A person familiar with the matter told reporters that the current situation is that in Wenling, collective wage negotiation in various industries is "good and bad", and not all industries have implemented collective wage negotiation.
"There are many reasons for this situation, but the lack of rigid legal support is an important factor for grassroots trade unions to promote collective bargaining. Chen Shouren, director of the Legal Affairs Department of Luoyang Federation of Trade Unions, said.
At present, according to the regulations, enterprises can conduct collective wage negotiations and have the right to refuse, which has become the reason for some enterprises to resist collective wage negotiations. Because the current minimum wage regulations, collective contract regulations and temporary wage payment regulations are all administrative regulations promulgated by ministries and commissions, they are not rigid and binding.
"If the Wage Law is promulgated, we have to talk about it if we don't talk about it, otherwise we will be punished and the effect will be completely different." Chen Shouren told Time Weekly. In his view, this is the most powerful weapon for grass-roots trade unions to "implement wage decisions."
The year is approaching, and the payment of wages once again provokes the sensitive nerves of workers. Recently, news from the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (hereinafter referred to as "ACFTU") said that the collective wage negotiation system is expected to be reached in multinational enterprises and private enterprises on a large scale.
Wang Yupu, Party Secretary, Vice Chairman and First Secretary of the Secretariat of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, revealed at the Fifth Executive Committee of the 15th All-China Federation of Trade Unions held last week that the All-China Federation of Trade Unions has launched a special three-year plan: strive to achieve 60% coverage of the collective wage negotiation system in trade union enterprises by the end of 201kloc-0/and more than 80% by the end of 20 13.
"China Business News" learned that the world's top 500 enterprises in China and non-public small and medium-sized enterprises will be the focus of this work. The latest issue of Outlook points out that multinational enterprises, large central enterprises and private enterprises are also the focus of collective wage negotiation.
The so-called collective wage negotiation refers to the equal consultation between the employee representatives and the enterprise representatives on the internal wage distribution system, form and income level of the enterprise according to law, and the wage agreement is signed on the basis of consensus. This system can effectively alleviate the contradiction between labor and capital, and the collective wage contract reached by it is called the "bull nose" of the trade union.
Promote labor-capital harmony
In fact, as early as 2000, China promulgated the Trial Measures for Collective Wage Negotiation. However, due to the low enthusiasm of enterprises, the lag of relevant system construction and the lack of talents, the progress of establishing collective wage negotiation in enterprises, especially non-public enterprises, is relatively slow.
20 10 is a year of frequent labor-capital conflicts. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions, which represents the interests of workers, is facing unprecedented challenges from Foxconn's jumping off a building to Honda's shutdown in Nanhai.
In order to promote the harmony of labor relations, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions put forward "two universal" work objectives last year, namely, promoting enterprises to establish trade union organizations according to law and conducting collective wage negotiations. By the end of September 20 10, * * had signed a total of 4.08 million collective contracts/kloc-0, covering 2.439 million enterprises and 0.85 million employees/kloc-0.
The three-year plan put forward this year can be said to be an extension of the "two universals". At present, it is mainly determined in three aspects: first, it is a non-public small and medium-sized enterprise; Second, collective wage negotiation in regional industries; Third, the world's top 500 enterprises are in China.
In addition, state-owned enterprises are also the focus of collective wage negotiation. Wang Zhaoguo, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, vice chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) and chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, said at the Fourth Executive Committee Meeting of the 15th ACFTU that "state-owned enterprises should take the lead".
In fact, state-owned enterprises, especially large central enterprises, still have a lot to improve in promoting collective wage negotiation.
According to the reporter's understanding, before the All-China Federation of Trade Unions put forward the three-year plan, Beijing, Qinghai, Tianjin and other places had taken the lead in formulating the three-year plan for collective wage negotiation.
Wang Yupu emphasized that by the end of 20 13, the participation rate of enterprises and employees nationwide should reach over 90%. This year, we should strive to implement the three-year plan of collective wage negotiation in enterprises, and determine the negotiation methods and priorities according to the different characteristics of various enterprises.
The reporter noted that among the five tasks of the Communist Party of China (CPC) 20 1 1, coordinating the contradiction between labor and capital, enhancing the coverage and cohesion of trade unions, and safeguarding the interests of employees have become the key points.
Pay attention to implementation
As early as 1995, Wei Jianxing, then chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, pointed out that "to implement the labor law, the' bovine nose' is the collective contract of the trade union."
The root cause of frequent labor-capital conflicts lies in the imbalance of the labor-capital benefit sharing mechanism. Wages are basically decided by employers, and workers lose their right to speak in wage decisions. According to the statistics of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, from June to September, 2009, there were 510.9 million labor disputes in China, accounting for 36.4% of all labor disputes. 89.4% of collective dispute cases involve labor remuneration, overtime pay and economic compensation.
It is generally believed in the industry that the implementation of collective wage negotiation can enable employers and employees to fully communicate and negotiate on benefit sharing, avoid the deterioration of contradictions, be conducive to the stability of employees, and ultimately benefit enterprises and society.
Judging from the current distribution structure in China, the low wage income level of ordinary workers and the lack of effective wage income growth mechanism have become one of the reasons for the continuous widening of the income gap.
The Twelfth Five-Year Plan proposes to increase the proportion of labor remuneration in the initial distribution and ensure the normal growth and payment of employees' wages. Collective wage negotiation is an important mechanism to ensure the normal growth of employees' wages. According to experts attending the meeting, the "Wage Regulations" being formulated includes the content of ensuring the normal growth of employees' wages through collective wage negotiation.
An expert on labor relations who did not want to be named said that in recent years, the trade union system has done a lot of work in promoting collective wage negotiation. The three-year plan is in line with the central government's idea of increasing workers' remuneration and realizing decent work, which is worthy of recognition. However, while trying to improve the coverage, we should pay more attention to the effectiveness of collective wage negotiation.
"Trade unions must find ways to speed up their own changes, improve workers' recognition of trade unions and their participation in collective bargaining, and effectively solve the problems such as the lack of negotiators in the past." The expert said.
The lack of negotiation subjects is mainly manifested in the low will of enterprises, especially foreign-funded enterprises and private small business owners, while the workers have not established trade unions, and their awareness of rights protection is poor and their negotiation ability is low; On the other hand, trade unions have the problem of "dare not talk, don't want to talk and won't talk".
Another key point of the three-year plan for collective wage negotiation is to promote collective wage negotiation in regional industries. The above-mentioned labor relations experts believe that this may be one of the countermeasures to solve the problem of lack of negotiators, which will effectively cover a large number of non-public small and medium-sized enterprises and avoid the cumbersome and difficult collective bargaining.