OFFICIAL TRADE UNION SEEKS TO ORGANIZE 60 PERCENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 022277 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT PASS USTR FOR STRATFORD, MCCARTIN, KARESH, ROSENBERG TREASURY FOR OASIA/ISA-CUSHMAN USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN LABOR FOR ILAB-CARTER, OWENS, HELM, ZHAO, SCHOEPFLE GENEVA FOR CHAMBERLIN E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/17/2016 TAGS: ELAB ECON EINV PGOV CH SUBJECT: OFFICIAL TRADE UNION SEEKS TO ORGANIZE 60 PERCENT OF FOREIGN INVESTORS REF: BEIJING 17771 Classified By: Deputy Economic Section Chief, Christopher Beede, reason 1.4(d). ¶1. (C) Summary: The All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) has announced that it has organized unions at all Wal-Marts in China and intends to double union presence in foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) from 30 to 60 percent by the end of the year. ACFTU said it will focus on "Fortune 500 multinationals" and specifically named Kodak and Dell Computer as its immediate targets. China-based executives at Kodak, Dell and General Electric (GE) say ACFTU has adopted a new strategy of reaching out directly to workers, and that an increasing union presence in FIEs is inevitable. The reason for ACFTU's intense focus on FIEs is not clear. ACFTU enjoys support for its campaign at the highest levels of the government, but US companies told Laboff they do not see any coordinated effort to use ACFTU to restrict foreign investment. Our contacts also noted that cash, in the form of substantial union fees, seems to be a major motivation for ACFTU, and given the Chinese Government's recent circumspect attitude toward foreign investment, FIEs are a relatively easy target. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) The ACFTU, China's only legal labor federation, held a press conference on October 12 to announce that it has succeeded in organizing unions in all of China's Wal-Marts. ACFTU also repeated its vow to organize unions in 60 percent of FIEs by the end of the year, and said it is already established in 30 percent of FIEs. ACFTU's most senior organizer, Guo Wencai, said the union would concentrate on the most union-resistant "Fortune 500" multinationals first. He named Kodak and Dell Computer operations in China as immediate targets. Laboff discussed the ACFTU's campaign with China-based executives from Kodak, Dell, and General Electric (GE),as well as with one of China's prominent labor NGOs. ¶3. (C) Executives at GE, Kodak and Dell all agreed that ACFTU's success in organizing unions at Wal-Mart this year (ref) marks a new strategy for the union. In the past, ACFTU's standard practice was to have a local or municipal ACFTU office approach a company's management and seek its cooperation in organizing a union. GE, Kodak and Dell have all been approached this way several times in recent years. Each company said they have consistently maintained that they would abide by Chinese law, and respect their workers' right to establish unions, but would not take it upon themselves to organize unions. ACFTU's new strategy at Wal-Mart was to reach out directly to workers, persuade them to set up unions and provide advice and assistance. In this way, ACFTU was able to organize 62 Wal-Mart stores and distribution centers in the space of a few weeks. Previous ACFTU campaigns to increase union representation in FIEs, most recently in 2004, produced few results, but all three companies told Laboff that they take ACFTU's newest pledge to repeat its success at Wal-Mart seriously, and believe it is inevitable that more and more FIEs will become unionized. Chris Lin, a legal counsel at GE (protect),said that ACFTU has publicly repeated its 60 percent target so often that it has become a matter of face. ACFTU can play with the numbers to some extent, he said, but it will have to establish unions in more FIEs to achieve its goal. Albert Wang of Dell (protect) felt that following success at Wal-Mart, ACFTU is probably hoping for a domino effect. ACFTU's, Guo Wencai told the press on October 12 that acheiving its 60 percent goal by the end of 2006 may be difficult, but that ACFTU would exert high pressure on "fortune 500" FIEs until unions are established. ¶4. (C) Guo Wencai and other ACFTU officials frequently accuse FIEs of resisting unionization, and business contacts have told Laboff that many FIEs do work their local government contacts to keep ACFTU at bay. At the October 12 press conference, ACFTU attributed this resistance by FIEs to their not understanding that ACFTU's goal is not engage in BEIJING 00022277 002 OF 002 confrontation, but to promote the development of the enterprise and ensure harmonious labor-management relations, as well as protect workers' rights. By all accounts, ACFTU unions are overwhelmingly passive and cooperative with management, but some FIEs complain of union interference in personnel decisions, resent the presence of a Party organization inside their business, or are concerned that ACFTU could become more confrontational in the future, especially if there is an economic downturn, in which case ACFTU could deploy the significant power it enjoys under Chinese law. Albert Wang told Laboff that his and other companies have tried to maintain a low profile, working constructively with local ACFTU organizations and consolidating local government support for their existing labor relations arrangements. Since the unionization of Wal-Mart, however, Wang said ACFTU has shown it is willing to go around management, and this will require employers to reach out to ACFTU to pre-empt being "ambushed." ¶5. (C) All three businessmen told Laboff that the Chinese Government's attitude and rhetoric toward foreign investment has hardened in recent months, and that the ACFTU may be invoking economic nationalism for its own ends. Lin said ACFTU may feel that it has more room to maneuver now that the government appears less inclined to protect foreign investors. However, none of the three companies believe that there is any coordinated effort to use the union to discourage foreign investment or make life more difficult for investors. Dell's Albert Wang, referring to recent press reports that President Hu called for increasing union and Party organizations in FIEs (ref),said that the government may feel it needs these unions to keep its finger on the pulse of the Chinese labor force. Chris Lin speculated that ACFTU Chairman and Communist Party Politburo Member Wang Zhaoguo may see expanding ACFTU's presence in FIEs as a way to burnish his own leadership credentials. Dell and GE also said that money is major factor. Under China's Trade Union law, ACFTU is entitled to a union fee of 2 percent of the total wage bill (not just 2 percent of union members' wages) in any company in which it has established a union. FIEs, whose wages tend to be higher than Chinese private companies, are an easy source of cash. ¶6. (C) Liu Kaiming (protect),director of a Guangdong-based labor NGO, Institute for Contemporary Observation, told Laboff on October 18 that he believes money is the primary factor. ACFTU cares about three things, he said, 1) showing the Party how many unions it can create, 2) showing the Party how many members it has (on paper),and 3) collecting its 2 percent fee (or some negotiated portion thereof). Liu said ACFTU is going after FIEs because they pay higher wages, are more likely to follow Chinese law, and are more sensitive to negative press publicity than Chinese private companies. Now that ACFTU has learned to approach workers directly, FIEs have become easy targets as well as a good source of revenue. ¶7. (SBU) To date, ACFTU has declined all of Laboff's requests to discuss its organizing campaign. Randt