Business & Human Rights : European Union Chamber of Commerce in China

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Main Content: European Union Chamber of Commerce in China

European Union Chamber of Commerce in China website: www.europeanchamber.com.cn

"The Chamber was formed with the support of the EU Delegation in Beijing on 19th October 2000. It is a non-profit membership fee-based organisation with offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Chengdu. Today, the Chamber is the leading exponent of European business interests in China creating a continuously growing business forum. It comprises of over 860 members, from global companies to small-medium enterprises. Its mission is to serve member companies by being the Voice of European Business in China."

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Title: An Uncertain Victory for China’s Workers [China]

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Author: Lyle Morris, Editor, China Economist magazine, in YaleGlobal
Dated: 24 Jun 2008

On January 1, 2008, the [China] Labor Contract Law went into effect…Critics point out that while the law will add much needed rights for workers, its goal of reducing worker-abuse cases might be difficult. [Refers to Olympus, Yue Yuen Industrial, Nike, Huawei Technologies, Carrefour]

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Visit: New Labour Contract Law: Myth and reality six months after implementation [China]

Author: IHLO [Hong Kong Liaison Office of the intl. trade union movement]
Dated: Jun 2008

Title: Cautious welcome for China labour law

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Author: Jamil Anderlini and Geoff Dyer, Financial Times
Dated: 01 Jul 2007

Foreign chambers of commerce and labour activists...welcomed an overhaul of China’s labour law, but said poor implementation of existing laws meant it was unlikely to improve working conditions in the near future. The law...was passed...just weeks after a scandal over the discovery of slave-labour brick kilns in central China...In response to the scandal, a clause was added to the legislation mandating punishment for state officials who overlook or tolerate labour rights violations...The American and European chambers of commerce in Beijing praised the law...but were sceptical it would actually be enforced...The China Labour Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based NGO, said the law was “laudable” but agreed that without government enforcement, widespread labour abuses would continue.

Title: China due to enact new labor law after heated debate

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Visit: China due to enact new labor law after heated debate

Author: Associated Press
Dated: 27 Jun 2007

The law...would set standards for labor contracts, use of temporary workers and severance pay...In April 2006, the government published the first draft of the law and...received more than 190,000 responses from workers and...companies...
Foreign business groups expressed alarm at proposed restrictions on firing workers, limits on use of temporary workers and a provision giving the All-China Federation of Trade Unions — the umbrella group for unions permitted by the communist government — a voice in staffing decisions...Labor activists reacted angrily to the foreign lobbying. The U.S.-based group Global Labor Strategies dubbed companies involved the "sweatshop lobby" and accused them of pushing Beijing to "weaken or abandon significant pro-worker reforms." Apparently stung by that criticism, the European Chamber of Commerce in China backed away from earlier criticism of the law..." The business comments appear to have prompted Beijing to remove the most contentious provisions. The third draft of the law...no longer requires approval from the official labor body to fire workers...The ACFTU often is regarded not as an advocate for better pay and working conditions for employees but as an intermediary that represents employers to workers..."As these new laws are enforced," [Ronald Brown, a specialist in Chinese law at the University of Hawaii,] said, "the labor union is likely going to have to accept a larger role as an adversary and an advocate, negotiating better conditions for its members."

Title: [PDF] The Chinese draft contract law - a global debate [scroll to pg. 12]

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Author: Hélène Ahlberger Le Deunff, in CSR Asia
Dated: 25 Apr 2007

The responses of European and US industry associations to the draft Chinese labour contract law stirred up a great deal of controversy around the world...As labour activists rightly point out, the image of multinationals as it emerges from the debate is in clear contradiction with the principles of corporate social responsibility that they have been advocating for years. The answers submitted by foreign multinationals to the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre are interesting in this regard. Significantly, companies such as Intel, Ericsson, PSA Peugeot-Citroën and Nike answer by mentioning their CSR engagement and efforts.

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Visit: A Friend to China's Workers

Author: John Frisbie, US-China Business Council, letter to the editor in Washington Post

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Visit: False Representation?

Author: Global Labor Strategies
Dated: 24 Apr 2007

Title: China's proposed labour law reform: concerns about US & European industry association lobbying; company responses & non-responses

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Visit: China's proposed labour law reform: concerns about US & European industry association lobbying; company responses & non-responses

Author: Compiled by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Dated: updated 28 Mar 2007

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited several US & European companies to respond to concerns about the positions taken by industry associations regarding China's proposed labour law reform.
[As of 27 Mar 2007:
- The following companies provided responses (accessible via this page): Ericsson, General Electric, Google, Intel, Nike, Nokia, Procter & Gamble, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Shell, Tesco, Walt Disney
- ABB has said it will provide a response but has not yet done so
- Microsoft has said it does not wish to respond at this time
- The following companies declined to respond: AT&T, Carrefour, DuPont, Maersk, Total, UPS, Wal-Mart
- Sara Lee stated that it is no longer a member of the US-China Business Council]

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Visit: Chinese Labor Rights Debated

Author: Tim Costello, Brendan Smith, Jeremy Brecher, Catherine Gelb, Global Movement Strategies
Dated: 26 Feb 2007

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Visit: New GLS Report: Undue Influence: Corporations Gain Ground in Battle over China's New Labor Law

Author: Global Labor Strategies
Dated: 26 Mar 2007

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Visit: China Drafts Law to Empower Unions and End Labor Abuse

Author: David Barboza, New York Times
Dated: 13 Oct 2006

Title: New GLS Report: Undue Influence: Corporations Gain Ground in Battle over China's New Labor Law

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Author: Global Labor Strategies
Dated: 26 Mar 2007

A new report by Global Labor Strategies...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... 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... Nike has virtually repudiated the efforts of the United States Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham) to lobby against the law.

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Visit: [PDF] full report: "Undue Influence: Corporations Gain Ground in Battle over China's New Labor Law"

Author: Global Labor Strategies
Dated: Mar 2007

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Visit: [PDF] Appendices to Undue Influence: Corporations Gain Ground in Battle over China’s New Labor Law

Author: Global Labor Strategies
Dated: Mar 2007

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Visit: China's proposed labour law reform: concerns about US & European industry association lobbying; company responses & non-responses

Author: Compiled by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Dated: updated 28 Mar 2007

Title: [PDF] full report: "Undue Influence: Corporations Gain Ground in Battle over China's New Labor Law"

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Author: Global Labor Strategies
Dated: Mar 2007

Corporations operating in China are claiming success in pressuring the Chinese government to weaken or abandon significant pro-worker reforms it had proposed... Now both the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham) and the US-China Business Council have launched an unpublicized new attack demanding further weakening of the law... 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... [analyses company responses to previous Global Labor Strategies report from Ericsson, General Electric, Google, Intel, Nokia, Procter & Gamble, Shell, Tesco; highlights refusal to respond by AT&T, Carrefour, UPS, Wal-Mart; also refers to American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai members Dell, Ford, Microsoft]

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Visit: New GLS Report: Undue Influence: Corporations Gain Ground in Battle over China's New Labor Law

Author: Global Labor Strategies
Dated: 26 Mar 2007

Title: [PDF] Appendices to Undue Influence: Corporations Gain Ground in Battle over China’s New Labor Law

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Visit: [PDF] Appendices to Undue Influence: Corporations Gain Ground in Battle over China’s New Labor Law

Author: Global Labor Strategies
Dated: Mar 2007

- "Appendix A: Voices from China" [includes comments by Chinese citizens on draft law]...
- "Appendix B: Corporate responses to Chinese Labor Law Controversy" [analyses responses to previous Global Labor Strategies report by Ericsson, General Electric, Google, Intel, Nike, Nokia, Procter & Gamble, PSA Peugeot-Citroën, Shell, Tesco; lists non-responding companies: AT&T, Carrefour, DuPont, Maersk (part of A.P. Moller - Maersk), Microsoft, Total, UPS, Wal-Mart, Walt Disney (which has since responded), ABB]...
- "Appendix C: October 31, 2006 Congressional Letter to President George Bush" [signed by 27 members of US Congress]...
- "Appendix D: United States-China Business Council Critique of GLS and GLS’s Reply"

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Visit: New GLS Report: Undue Influence: Corporations Gain Ground in Battle over China's New Labor Law

Author: Global Labor Strategies
Dated: 26 Mar 2007

Title: Labor Rights in China

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Visit: Labor Rights in China

Author: Tim Costello, Brendan Smith, Jeremy Brecher, in Foreign Policy in Focus
Dated: 21 Dec 2006

A major debate is underway in China on a proposed law that would grant new rights to Chinese workers. The debate has not been widely reported outside of China; until recently it has been almost entirely ignored by media in the United States. But when the Chinese government opened a 30-day public comment period this spring, it received nearly 200,000 comments, the majority from ordinary workers. But some comments also came from big U.S.- and European-based global corporations and their lobbying groups. These powerful forces squarely opposed the new law...Wal-Mart's recent agreement to recognize unions in China has made headlines worldwide. But Wal-Mart and other corporations, including Google, UPS, Microsoft, Nike, AT&T, and Intel, have acted through the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham) and other industry associations to try to block Chinese legislation that would significantly increase the power and protection of workers.

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Visit: China Drafts Law to Empower Unions and End Labor Abuse

Author: David Barboza, New York Times
Dated: 13 Oct 2006

Title: Multinationals Accused of Hypocrisy over China Labour Law Reform

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Author: Intl. Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation
Dated: 26 Oct 2006

US and European multinationals have been accused of double standards for adopting codes of conduct requiring their suppliers behave ethically on the one hand, while on the other lobbying against China’s proposed new labour laws which, if implemented, would greatly clean up the country’s supply chain. The...International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF) has written to leading US and European retailers and merchandisers, including Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Tesco, Nike, the Walt Disney Co, Adidas, Sara Lee and DuPont, asking them to distance themselves from the position of their industry associations and to publicly support China’s proposed new labour laws...

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Visit: China Drafts Law to Empower Unions and End Labor Abuse

Author: David Barboza, New York Times
Dated: 13 Oct 2006

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre: European Union Chamber of Commerce in China

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Title: An Uncertain Victory for China’s Workers [China]

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Title: Cautious welcome for China labour law

Title: China due to enact new labor law after heated debate

Title: [PDF] The Chinese draft contract law - a global debate [scroll to pg. 12]

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Title: China's proposed labour law reform: concerns about US & European industry association lobbying; company responses & non-responses

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Title: New GLS Report: Undue Influence: Corporations Gain Ground in Battle over China's New Labor Law

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Title: [PDF] full report: "Undue Influence: Corporations Gain Ground in Battle over China's New Labor Law"

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Title: [PDF] Appendices to Undue Influence: Corporations Gain Ground in Battle over China’s New Labor Law

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Title: Labor Rights in China

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Title: Multinationals Accused of Hypocrisy over China Labour Law Reform

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Business & Human Rights Resource Centre: European Union Chamber of Commerce in China

Page Content Navigation

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Primary navigation

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Main Content: European Union Chamber of Commerce in China

Search Summary

Link Explanation

Link Results

Title: An Uncertain Victory for China’s Workers [China]

List item: 1

Title: Cautious welcome for China labour law

Title: China due to enact new labor law after heated debate

Title: [PDF] The Chinese draft contract law - a global debate [scroll to pg. 12]

List item: 1

List item: 2

Title: China's proposed labour law reform: concerns about US & European industry association lobbying; company responses & non-responses

List item: 1

List item: 2

List item: 3

Title: New GLS Report: Undue Influence: Corporations Gain Ground in Battle over China's New Labor Law

List item: 1

List item: 2

List item: 3

Title: [PDF] full report: "Undue Influence: Corporations Gain Ground in Battle over China's New Labor Law"

List item: 1

Title: [PDF] Appendices to Undue Influence: Corporations Gain Ground in Battle over China’s New Labor Law

List item: 1

Title: Labor Rights in China

List item: 1

Title: Multinationals Accused of Hypocrisy over China Labour Law Reform

List item: 1

Send us comments & suggested additions

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