Money

Experts will help promote collective bargaining in city

By Wang Wen (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-26 08:51

A team of experts will delve into the divisive issue of who earns what in the capital.

The special committee will study income distribution among employees in Beijing and is the first such committee to be set up nationwide, the local government has announced.

"Income distribution among employees is an important issue in Beijing and we need a team of experts to do research on the issue," said Huang Wei, director of the labor rights department of the Beijing Municipal Federation of Trade Unions.

Huang said the committee will be established through a collaboration of three departments - the Municipal Federation of Trade Unions, the Beijing Human Resource and Social Security Bureau and the Beijing Enterprises Association.

Experts on economy, law and labor rights will also be members of the committee, he said.

"The three departments will start to select experts this week and the committee will be established in a month," Huang told METRO.

The group will study income distribution theoretically in Beijing and make some suggestions to the local government, Huang said. The committee will also be able to help mediate labor disputes involving wages and give advice about the collective bargaining process, he added.

A group of instructors has been working with employers to negotiate wage issues. That group of 120 instructors was put together by the trade union. The new committee will help with the training of the 120 instructors and help expand the size of the group.

"We want to make sure at least one instructor works in every industry or area of the city," Huang said.

Instructors and their advice are in demand among employees, especially in small companies, he said.

Zhang Shuying, chairwoman of the trade union at the Hongyuan catering company, said most employees had limited educations and found the collective bargaining system confusing.

"Employees think whether or not they get a pay rise is up to the boss and they do not know how to bargain with their boss," Zhang said.

She said the trade union had already organized collective bargaining in the company six times since 2004 but she said there was a demand for more instructors to encourage employees to express their suggestions during the negotiations.

Both the committee and expanded number of instructors are part of the push to promote collective bargaining in Beijing.

Han Zirong, vice-president of the Beijing Municipal Federation of Trade Unions, said that by the end of 2010, collective bargaining systems should be in place in more than 65 percent of enterprises in the city.

Collective contracts should be signed in more than 85 percent of enterprises in Beijing by the end of 2010, Han added.

Policies on income distribution have attracted a lot of attention in recent years and the local government raised the minimum wage standard on July 1.

According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, 23 cities and provinces in China adjusted their minimum wage in the first half of the year. Beijing now has the highest minimum wage for hourly workers nationwide after increasing it from 9.6 yuan an hour to 11 yuan.