‘Guangzhou factory workers get their trade union but keep their feet on the ground', 16 July 2014

It took nearly three months of relentless effort by around a hundred workers at the Japanese-owned Sumida electronics factory in southern Guangzhou but, on 10 July 2014, the factory held its first ever democratic trade union election…The election was undoubtedly a victory for the workers but no one was getting too carried away…

The ACFTU, the world’s largest trade union, has traditionally set up factory branches in a top-down manner, negotiating with factory owners and managers but largely ignoring the workers. And this was indeed the initial response of the officials at the local sub-district (街道) union when the Sumida workers first approached them in April…

The official media then reported on 2 July, that the Guangdong Federation of Trade Unions plans to make democratic trade union elections universal across the province’s enterprises within five years. However, having a democratic trade union election is just the start of a long process…As Han Dongfang [China Labour Bulletin] points out:...The next, more important, step is to make sure the elected union will represent workers and bargain for wages and benefits on the workers' behalf.