China says labour dispute cases rising fast

The number of labour disputes in China is rising by about one-fifth every year, but the government is trying hard to step up its mediation efforts, a senior official said on Friday.

"In recent years, the number of labour disputes in companies has gone up rapidly, at a rate of around 20 percent per annum," Zhang Mingqi, deputy head of the All China Federation of Trade Unions, told a news conference, without providing a reason.

The ruling Communist Party bans independent trade unions, depriving workers of a key channel for resolving disputes. Unpaid wages, especially to migrant workers, have also been a source of the sort of unrest China's leaders are keen to avoid.

Zhang, who gave no hint that the government may relax its monopoly of trade unions and gave no figures for the number of strikes, said it was important his federation got involved quickly in disputes to help resolve them as soon as possible.

"Once a dispute has begun but before it has been solved, the trade union must proactively help workers get to a mediation body to mediate," he said, speaking on the sidelines of China's annual meeting of parliament.

"If companies suffer mass work slowdowns, the trade union must also proactively get involved, and help the workers to reflect their complaints and demands," Zhang added.

But the priority was to get work back to normal, he said.

"Because only once work resumes and a company's development is promoted, can the legal rights of workers be best enforced," Zhang added.

The government says it is trying to improve the lot of workers, especially those from poor inland provinces who have flocked to the booming coast to work in the factories that power China's export machine.

Beijing in January enacted a labour contract law to give workers greater legal rights, for example protecting them from arbitrary dismissal, though some companies complain this will only add to already rising costs.

This week, 1,500 workers at a factory in southern China, near to Hong Kong, went on strike over a contract dispute and clashed with police brought in to quell the unrest.