The official Communist Party-controlled trade union in Beijing has scored a coup in its collective bargaining campaign against foreign-invested enterprises, according to reports from Chinese state media.
The Beijing municipal federation of trade unions has convinced more than 100 foreign companies in the Chinese capital to pay their employees no less than 1.5 times the city’s statutory minimum wage of Rmb1,160 ($177).
Foreign companies that have agreed to the wage rule include Pizza Hut, Siemens, Nestlé and many others but companies like Carrefour and Wal-Mart, which employ large numbers of low-wage workers, have not participated in the negotiations and are not affected by the new rule.
In their eagerness to please the city government, which has the power to make doing business here very difficult, it seems foreign companies that already pay relatively high wages have decided this is a smart concession to make.
But with statutory minimum wages rising across the country at around 20 per cent a year at the moment and expectations this will continue, they may feel differently in a year or two.
“As part of the government’s wealth redistribution plan it is raising minimum wages across the board,” said Ren Xianfang, an analyst at IHS Global Insight. “For foreign companies they will probably come under even greater wage pressures than domestic companies because the government seems to think they should pay more.”
China does not allow independent labour unions and the official unions are essentially branches of the Communist Party. In recent years, the government has pushed hard to expand the official union presence inside foreign-invested companies, some of which have resisted.
Now that the capital has set an example, analysts believe other Chinese cities with large foreign business communities, such as Shanghai and Shenzhen, will soon follow suit and introduce similar wage bargaining with foreign companies. –Jamil Anderlini, http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2011/04/07/beijing-wins-pay-round-with-mncs/
September 18 –
International Equal Pay Day
“Increase wages now,
more than other cost items.
For widespread, practical equality!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the recommendations of the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry
against serious violations of protocols of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association.
Accept the National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands
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September –
5 Sept – Intl Day of Charity
7 Sept – Intl Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies
8 Sept – International Literacy Day
12 Sept – United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation
15 Sept – International Day of Democracy
16 Sept – International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer
17 Sept – World Patient Safety Day
18 Sept – International Equal Pay Day
21 Sept – International Day of Peace
26 Sept – International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
27 Sept – World Tourism Day
28 Sept – International Day for Universal Access to Information
29 Sept – International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste
30 Sept – World Maritime Day
Monthly Observances:
Health, Safety and Sanitation Month
National Clean-up Month
Civil Service Month
National Peace Consciousness Month
Social Security Month
Rule of Law Month
National Teachers’ Month (Sept 5-Oct 4)
Weekly Observances:
Sept 17 – 23:
World Clean and Green Week
Week 2: Education Week
Week 4: Medicine Week
Last Week: National Family Week
Daily Observances:
Third Saturday:
International Coastal Clean-up Day
Third Monday: World Health Day
Last Friday: National Maritime Day
Sept 8: National Literacy Day
Sept 15: Philippine Medicine Day
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