Others News
- Guangdong News
Date: 4-Jan-2007 Sources: (Xinhua Online)
The Shenzhen General Trade Union (SGTU) has gone ahead and set up a trade union for workers at Foxconn after the Taiwan-invested information technology company failed to establish one as promised.
Foxconn, which is listed in Hong Kong and employs about 200,000 workers, had pledged to establish a trade union by the end of last year. The company was embroiled in a lawsuit with China Business News, following a report on the working conditions of its employees.
The SGTU on Sunday started recruiting members in the company's staff recreation area.
A total of 118 Foxconn employees have so far joined the trade union.
No representatives of the company's management attended the group's inaugural meeting.
According to the law, a union can be established in any company in the nation with a minimum of 25 workers without the consent of the company's management.
SGTU official, Duan Xinqing, said it had been trying to persuade the company to establish a labour union since 2004, but to no avail.
The company and the union later agreed a union would be established before the end of 2006.
Duan said they were making the company honour its promise.
'This is an innovative move. It will help promote the protection of workers rights in other foreign-funded and private business,' he said.
The union plans to rent an office in Longhua district, where a Foxconn facility, Hongfujin Precision Industry Company, is located.
It plans to recruit more members from the company even if Foxconn sets up its own trade union, Duan said.
Liu Zhongxian, a spokesman for the company, said it planned to set up its own union this month.
'We started making preparations in November. But I was not aware that the city trade union was setting up one for us,' Liu was quoted as saying in media reports.
The company had sued journalists of China Business News for their reports, demanding 30 million yuan in compensation.
But it later reduced its defamation claim to only one yuan in August and dropped the lawsuit in early September.
The company and the newspaper released a joint statement, apologizing to each other, pledging to collaborate to protect workers' rights and to contribute to building a harmonious society.
Under the law, companies must recognize trade unions and contribute two percent of staff salaries as membership fees.
An investigation by the National People's Congress three years ago found that some foreign-owned companies, including shopping giant Wal-Mart, had not established labour unions.
Wal-Mart subsequently established its first labour union last July.
As of September last year, about 62 branches of the company in more than 30 cities had established their own labour unions, with a total membership of about 6,000.
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