The Role of Unions in Employee Relations in China

HR: THE ROLE OF UNIONS IN EMPLOYEE RELATIONS IN
CHINA
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Basic rights of employees in China............................................................................................3
Employee relation in China........................................................................................................4
Role of official trade union of China, ACFTU..........................................................................5
Influence of trade union in improvement of employee relation in China..................................6
Story of labor strikes in China...................................................................................................7
Impact of civil society and government in supporting movement of workers...........................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
Reference list..............................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
Trade unions play important role in employees relation in many countries and purpose of
developing trade union is to convey information about issues of employees to employers.
Government of China has developed legislation in order to support trade unions in improving
employee relation. It is important to consider basic rights of employees by employers in order
to maintain good employee relation within industries of China. This study focuses on the role
of trade union of China in maintaining good employee relations within country. On another
hand, this study is describing role of government and society of China in supporting
movement by labors.
Basic rights of employees in China
China has a well-structured framework that providers employees a range of benefits and
protect them from any instance of discrimination or exploitation. Different benefits like fixed
working hour, proper contract of employment, insurance are provided to employees. In
addition, they achieve pay for equal work and full protection from any discrimination in
workplace. As opined by Frege and Kelly (2013), all employees have right to form trade
union and management of a firm need to consult with union before making any change.
Employees can bargain their rights and benefits from management of the organization
through the help of trade unions. There are some laws that are related to employee rights,
which include labor law 1995 and labor contract law. It can be seen that different local
governing authority is in charge of enforcing these laws in China. Protecting rights of
employees help to boost their morale, which in turn impacts on productivity of an industry.
Different laws ensure security like minimum wage, overtime pay and 40 hours of working
per week (Borgenproject.org, 2019). However, violations of law often occur in China due to
poor monitoring of government.
However, enforcement of law has slowed down a bit due to weakening of economy in this
country. Human resource is a great factor in China that needs to be protected that can help to
attract investments from other countries. This, in turn, can help to boost up economy of this
country. Contract law of 2008 protects rights of employees in respect to any disputes
regarding employee agreement (Warwick.ac.uk, 2019). In addition, this law also protects an
employee from any exploitation. Different other rights and benefits like overtime,
compensation during any injury are also provided to workers in China. In 1982 right of doing
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strikes was removed from law in China. However, workers can strike for fulfilling their
demands because there is no legal prohibition.
Employee relation in China
Employee relation refers to efforts of organizations in managing employees by providing
basic facilities to them. As opined by Bottomley et al. (2016), organizations under good
employee relation provide good working environment and basic facilities to employees in
order to fulfill their basic needs. In China, various issues are emerging regarding poor
working system in organizations and this aspect is affecting performance of employees as
well as organizational performances. China has experienced several complaints from the side
of labors regarding unethical business policies of employers. On contrary, Dimitratos et al.
(2016) have mentioned that poor workplace culture is preventing workers to maintain balance
between their professional and personal life. It can be noticed that one-way communication is
present in most of the firms. Employers make decisions and provide instruction to employees.
Lack of direct communication between employees and employers have given birth to trade
unions. Employees are not getting enough opportunities to share their issues with their
employees. On another hand, Mowbray et al. (2015) have argued that employers do not ask
them to take part in decision making. This attitude of employers makes employees understand
that they are not getting sufficient respect as they deserve.
Government of China is concerned about poor employee relation of this country as this
condition is affecting economy of China. Due to this reason, legal system has been developed
in order to control actions of employers and protect basic rights of employers. On another
hand, Smith and Chan (2015) have argued that employers are taking initiatives to
communicate with Union leaders in order to identify and solve potential issues that are being
faced by employees. It has been noticed that employee relation is getting improved day by
day with the help of collaborative approach of government and society. As contradicted by
Barry and Wilkinson (2016), still working condition is poor in China and employees are not
getting all support from their employers. Trade union is playing the role of middleman and is
trying to improve current scenario. For example, labors of manufacturing industries of China
are facing issues regarding minimum wage, long working hours, safety issues and poor
workplace culture. These aspects are negatively influencing employee relations in China.
Employers discuss with leaders of trade unions regarding these potential issues for improving
employee relation. Rate of suicide of employees is remarkable in China and it indicates poor
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