Detention of Labor Representative Highlights Challenges for Collective Bargaining in China

On May 23, 2013, public security officials in Bao’an district, Shenzhen city, Guangdong province, detained migrant worker Wu Guijun, after he reportedly participated in a local Bao’an labor protest.[1]  Employed at the Diweixin manufacturing factory (“Diweixin”) in Bao’an, Wu was one of seven elected labor representatives negotiating with factory management on a resolution to a near month-long labor dispute.  Workers staged a public protest after management failed to agree to collective bargaining demands, including worker compensation for a proposed factory closure.  As a result of the protest, authorities detained a number of protesters, including Wu.  According to his lawyer, Wu now faces possible criminal prosecution for “gathering a crowd to disrupt social order,” a crime punishable by three to seven years’ imprisonment under Article 290 of the PRC Criminal Law.[2]

Background on Wu’s Case

In early May 2013, workers at Diweixin, a Hong Kong-owned factory, initiated a strike in response to management plans to close and relocate manufacturing operations from Shenzhen to Huizhou municipality, Guangdong.[3]  Seeking severance compensation in connection with the factory’s closure, workers elected Wu, along with six others, to advance their demands in collective negotiations with factory management.  According to multiple reports, management repeatedly refused to cooperate with the representatives for more than two weeks of collective negotiations, reportedly offering at one point to provide workers with compensation below the legal minimum required by law.[4]

In an attempt to pressure local authorities to intervene in the dispute, 300 workers marched on May 23 to the Shenzhen municipal government.[5] Local public security reportedly intervened in the march, detaining as many as 200 workers, including Wu.  Authorities released a majority of those detained the following day and others in the succeeding weeks, but authorities continued to detain Wu, eventually placing him under criminal detention.[6]

Labor advocates have expressed concern that authorities have held Wu for an extended period of time without being indicted.[7]  In October 2013, procuratorate officials returned Wu’s case to public security officials for additional investigation.[8] According to Wu’s lawyer, the Bao’an district procuratorate twice rejected indicting Wu—apparently on the charge of “gathering a crowd to disrupt social order”—due to insufficient evidence.[9]

Reactions to Wu’s Detention

Fellow workers, academics, and labor advocates have criticized Wu’s detention.  On September 27, 2013, 32 Chinese and international labor organizations cosigned a petition expressing concern that the collective actions taken by Diweixin workers resulted in detentions and the potential criminal prosecution of Wu, despite protections provided under the PRC Constitution guaranteeing freedom of assembly.[10]  Signatories stressed that “Wu and other worker leaders were alone in their struggle without receiving support from the trade union,” and called on authorities to “defend the worker’s right to strike” and release Wu.

In a September 11, 2013, open letter to the Shenzhen Federation of Trade Unions, Wu’s coworkers called his detention a “bad precedent” that would cause “workers striking in the future [to face] the risk of prosecution.”[11]  According to the letter, such a situation would “intensify social contradictions and influence social harmony.”  Workers urged the Shenzhen Federation of Trade Unions to fulfill its “core responsibility” to protect workers’ rights and to pressure local authorities to release Wu.

Continued Challenges for Collective Bargaining

Wu’s case illustrates the continued challenges Chinese workers face pursuing collective bargaining to resolve workplace grievances.  The Commission’s 2013 Annual Report noted that demographic and economic shifts have provided workers with greater bargaining power in the workplace, increasing their determination to redress grievances and press for better pay and working conditions.[12]  While the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU)—China’s sole official trade union under the direction of the Chinese Communist Party—has promoted collective contract and wage bargaining to address workers’ grievances and maintain “harmonious” labor relations, a general lack of autonomy and genuine worker representation in enterprise-level unions continues to limit ACFTU-led collective bargaining.[13]  According to Wan Xiangdong, a professor and deputy director of the labor research and service center at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong, government and local trade union officials continue to approach labor disputes through the perspective of maintaining social stability and protecting against economic losses, which places workers at a marked disadvantage.[14]

Wu’s case also highlights the risk workers face by engaging in collective bargaining without trade unions. A December 7, 2012, China Labour Bulletin report, indicated that labor representatives “have suffered reprisals after taking part in collective bargaining with management,” including forced resignations, firings, and detention.[15]  The report notes that despite some successful cases of worker-led collective bargaining, a lack of “any clear defined legal protection” for labor representatives makes them susceptible to retaliation, necessitating “protection from both the law and a fully functioning trade union.” As a member of the International Labor Organization (ILO), China is obligated to respect, promote, and realize the principles of freedom of association and the “effective recognition” of the right to collective bargaining.[16]

For more information on Wu’s case, see the Commission’s Political Prisoner Database.

For more information on collective bargaining and freedom of association in China, see Section II—Worker Rights in the CECC 2013 Annual Report, pp. 67–69.