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China's labourers lament life after WTO

BEIJINGP: "Wanted young, able-bodied, hard-working men and women to work in clothing factory. 600 yuan ($72) a month. Short term. No residence permit needed."

The advertisement at the Yuetan labour exchange in Beijing attracts a throng of migrant workers, stamping their feet to ward off the winter cold in the draughty Ming Dynasty building.

"No overtime. No benefits. Conditions are tough for outsiders," mutters Zhang, 34, who came to Beijing looking for work after being laid off two years ago by a bankrupt textile factory in the central province of Anhui.

"But if you don't like it, there are plenty of people to take your place," he says, hurriedly filling in an application form.

For workers like Zhang once protected by a cradle-to-grave state welfare system, now moonlighting at the mercy of unscrupulous private employers China's imminent entry to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) means only one thing.

"More unemployment," says Guo, 40, a former electronics worker from Shanxi province, who has come to the exchange in vain every day for the last two weeks.

"That means more competition, worse conditions."

In his last job, Guo worked 15 hours a day, six days a week, without overtime, for 700 yuan a month.

ABUNDANT LABOUR A RESOURCE AND THREAT: Faced with slowing economic growth, China's cheap and abundant labour supply represents its most valuable natural resource and its greatest potential threat.

China must keep labour costs down to compete for precious export markets and foreign investment with neighbours made more attractive by big falls in the value of their currencies during the Asian economic crisis.

But Beijing is also under increasing pressure to appease an army of workers disaffected by mass lay-offs from flagging state enterprises and poor conditions in the private sector.

Labour conditions in the developing world were at the centre of a dispute that helped to scupper a WTO meeting last month.

While angry demonstrators in Seattle accused the body of subverting democracy and destroying labour unions, developed nations called for a link between labour standards and trade.

US President Bill Clinton even suggested imposing trade sanctions on nations with poor records on labour standards.

But developing nations strongly resisted such attempts, arguing that rich nations were trying to deny poorer ones their sole competitive advantage.

China has made it clear it will join forces with developing countries when it enters the body.

ILO SAYS SANCTIONS NOT THE ANSWER: Djankou Ndjonkou, director of the International Labour Organisation's Beijing office, says trade sanctions are not the answer to Chinese workers' woes.

But neither is free trade alone.

"Of course the fundamental problem is that it is illegal for workers to form their own unions. Until workers have proper channels to resolve disputes, they are likely to take to the streets," he says.

China has made progress on technical issues, such as safety in the work place, but is reluctant to ratify fundamental conventions on more sensitive areas such as freedom of association and collective bargaining, he says.

Beijing has ratified 20 conventions of the United Nations' labour agency, but 14 of those date back to before 1940, and 18 are purely technical.

"The rate of ratification in recent years is very slow," Ndjonkou says. And while compliance at the top level is good, the story on the ground can be very different.

"It would be irresponsible to say that the situation at the government level is the same as in the enterprise," he says.

EMPLOYERS SKIRT LABOUR LAWS: China implemented a new labour law in January 1995, limiting the work week to 40 hours and overtime to 36 hours per month.

In the two years after the law was introduced, state media reported a dramatic rise in the number of labour disputes as workers became more aware of their rights.

But labour activists say that since economic crisis rocked Asia in 1997, local governments anxious to keep labour costs down have been turning a blind eye to employers who flout regulations.

"To keep the workers' voice out, that's the best investment environment that foreign investors need," says Han Dongfang, a labour activist now based in Hong Kong who used the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests to agitate for independent unions.

"The local authorities are afraid to punish them because they will close down and move somewhere else."

Labour groups monitoring working conditions on the mainland continue to receive reports of sweatshops where rural migrants are held captive on minimal pay, especially around the free-wheeling coastal special economic zones.

SWEATSHOPS DODGE INSPECTIONS: Rising living standards and tighter inspections by foreign investors have improved conditions inside the special zones.

But many factories have simply moved to the edges of the zones and recruit workers from the surrounding countryside or the much poorer hinterland, labour groups say.

Han cites one example of a factory producing leather goods for a large multinational firm. Company inspectors were shown an immaculate production line on one floor while on another level, more than 2,000 workers slaved for just 250 yuan per month.

"One thing is for sure that is Chinese workers are getting weaker and weaker. We will have a bigger monster to deal with than the Communist Party, which is the WTO."

"Greater competition will make companies think more about how to reduce costs," he says. "Cutting wages is the very first idea and then paying less money to improve labour conditions.

"In front of this, we are powerless because we cannot organise unions."

Han says there will be a growing number of labour protests in China if the government does not protect workers' rights.

"The socialist government, the so-called representative of the Chinese workers, is against labour standards. From this alone, it's very clear the government is not the representative of the workers any more," he says.

WORKERS BLAME GOVERNMENT: Outside the Yuetan labour exchange, workers mill around exchanging gossip and airing grievances.

"We'll never find anything," grumbles Li, 50, from the northern province of Hebei. "I have 10 years until I can retire. What am I supposed to do?"

Some accept they are victims of circumstance in China's economic transition and remain optimistic about the future.

But others show signs of mounting discontent.

"I blame the one-party system," says a former steelworker from Heilongjiang province in the northeast.

"Corruption is every where rotting the heart of the country. Industry is no good. Agriculture is no good. The service industry is not developed.

"Look at all of us," he says, his face flushed with anger. "We are young and capable. What a waste."-Reuters