Undue Influence: Corporation Gain Ground in Battle Over China's New Labor Law

A behind-the-scenes battle is raging worldwide over reforms in China’s labor law. On the one side are U.S.-based and other global corporations who have been aggressively lobbying to limit new rights for Chinese workers. On the other side are pro-worker rights forces in China, backed by labor, human rights, and political forces in the U.S. and around the world. A new report by Global Labor Strategies, entitled UNDUE INFLUENCE: Corporation Gain Ground in Battle Over China’s New Labor Law, details how lobbying by American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham), the United States-China Business Council, and U.S.-based global corporations have forced significant changes in contract, collective bargaining, severance, and other rights guaranteed for Chinese workers under a law to be voted on later this year by the Chinese National People's Congress. UNDUE INFLUENCE follows on GLS's groundbreaking report: BEHIND THE GREAT WALL: U.S. Corporations Opposing New Rights for Chinese Workers. The battle is far from over, however. UNDUE INFLUENCE reveals that while publicly claiming to support the new legislation, companies like Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Google, General Electric and others have launched an unpublicized new attack demanding further gutting of the law's most important provisions. But UNDUE INFLUENCE also discloses significant pushback by Chinese and international forces. U.S. members of Congress have introduced legislation decrying the corporate intervention and apparent Administration complicity; China's official labor organization, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), has taken a strong stand against corporate pressure; international union federations have pressured their employers to reverse course; and human rights organizations have mobilized support for Chinese workers' rights. Such counter-pressure has led to splits among global companies operating in China. Nike has virtually repudiated the efforts of the United States Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham) to lobby against the law. And the E.U. Chamber of Commerce has reversed its opposition to the law and renounced its threat that its member companies may leave China if the law is passed. Undue Influence reveals this and other shifts among U.S. and E.U. corporations operating in China.