Labor Shortage To Force Collective Bargaining "Hangzhou Sample"

When sitting at the same negotiating table with the boss, ordinary employees are fighting for their own work income and rights and interests, and in such a game of right words, the boss finally compromises and reaches the wage rise agreement with the employees. This is the scene of a fair bargaining game between the employers and the employees depicted in the wage collective bargaining system.

Although such a scenario is too luxurious for most ordinary Chinese laborers, it is gratifying to say "

Salary has the final say of the boss.

"Recently, the price of rice, oil and salt has been rising. Can wages go up?"

"If the operation is normal, how much wages will the workers increase this year?"

"Let's look at the figures: in 2009, the average monthly salary of our front-line workers was 2006 yuan, up from 2103 yuan per month last year.

This year, the company has adjusted the target, compared with 2010, the actual wage growth will exceed 5%.

The dialogue came from a collective wage consultation in Zhejiang in March 17th.

On the same day, the first town street mobilization meeting of Hangzhou Xiaoshan District wage collective consultation "100 day offer action" was held in Zhejiang City Olympic exhibition Industrial Co., Ltd.

The staff representatives, who are discussed by the workers' Congress of the trade union, and the representatives of the enterprises, face to face the consultation on the wage increase of workers and staff members.

The common point of collective wage negotiation is "wage negotiation", which teaches workers how to bargain with business owners.

Tan Mupin, Minister of law and industry of Hangzhou Federation of trade unions, explained.

In the process of collective wage negotiations in Xiaoshan, first, the enterprise union issued a collective bargaining proposal to the administrative departments of the enterprises, requiring the representatives of employees and the representatives of the business administration to negotiate on labor remuneration, insurance benefits, labor safety and staff training. The enterprises responded to the relevant information on the sales and profits of the enterprises within the prescribed time limit, and then conducted face-to-face collective consultations.

After "negotiation", we finally determined that the minimum wage increased by 25% this year, and signed by the staff representatives and the representatives of the business administration on the wage agreement.

"Wage negotiations, we can clearly see the increase in wages and benefits, work will be more secure."

Chen Junjie, the representative of Austrian exhibition workers, is very satisfied with the result of the wage consultation.

"It's very good for keeping people and recruiting people."

Huang Chengan, chairman of the company, also believes that the frequent flow of workers has paid a high price for enterprises. Collective wage consultation helps retain talents and is conducive to long-term development of enterprises.

According to statistics, up to now, Hangzhou has signed 13500 collective wage agreements, covering 34488 enterprises and 1 million 295 thousand employees, including 1510 regional industrial wage agreements, covering 22498 enterprises and 430 thousand employees.

In the whole province of Zhejiang, the situation of salary being controlled by the boss is changing.

Jin Changzheng, executive vice chairman of the Zhejiang Provincial Federation of trade unions, said that the collective wage consultation system has been widely covered in Zhejiang, and initially formed a mechanism for the consultation of enterprises to establish a normal wage growth mechanism. The focal point of the industry consultation is to establish uniform working hours and labor price standards. Regional consultation focuses on solving the wage negotiation mode of "enterprise consultation growth, industry consultation standards, and regional consultation bottom line" that the wages of workers are not lower than the local minimum wage standards.

It is reported that according to this mode, nearly 8 million 500 thousand employees in Zhejiang have implemented collective bargaining and fixed wages, involving 13.22 enterprises.

Jin Changzheng said, such as "how much money to sew a pair of trousers" and "how much money is there on the collar of a shirt", this kind of labor price, which was previously negotiated by the boss of the enterprise, was gradually replaced by the labor price consultation. "Frontline workers went to the front desk and negotiated with each other the cost of each process."

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If time goes back for a few years, it is to lend Zhu Wenbin a few more gallbladder. He dare not talk to the boss. He is bargaining with others, and he doesn't want to mix up.

But now, he will fight for what he deserves.

Zhu Wenbin, 47, is an oil depot administrator of Hangzhou paint Co., Ltd.

Founded in 1956, Hangzhou paint Co., Ltd. was once a key producer of paint industry in the whole country, but before the restructuring in 1999, the company was at the edge of loss.

Wang Qingyu, who entered the factory after graduation, said: "at that time, the income of workers was very low, and people with ability were all gone.

Zhu Wenbin also laid off two times and worked three times.

In 2005, Hangzhou began to implement the collective wage consultation system to the society. Hangzhou paint Co., Ltd. was designated as the first pilot enterprise.

Now, in the view of Hu Lianrong, chairman of the company's trade union, collective bargaining is to let employees have their own voice in the distribution of wages.

It is reported that since the collective wage negotiations were carried out, the average wage increase of paint companies has exceeded 15% per year. In the past three years, the average growth rate of staff and workers is 18.16%, and the increase of wages last year is 20.48%.

"All this is due to the collective bargaining system."

Hu Lianrong said.

The income of employees has increased, and the efficiency of enterprises has been better.

In 2009, the company realized output value of 300 million yuan, production and marketing of 30 thousand tons, and profit of 30 million yuan, which increased by 246%, 230%, 416%, respectively.

Hu Lianrong said that the treatment of workers is good, enthusiasm is high, enterprises earn more, and they are willing to improve their treatment, and at the same time, they retain their hearts and minds, forming a virtuous circle.

Hangzhou paint Co., Ltd. is only a successful sample of Hangzhou's collective wage consultation.

The head of the Hangzhou Federation of trade unions believes that increasing the income of workers is the most basic guarantee for achieving decent work. Wage consultation not only enables employees to achieve normal growth in annual wages, but also allows employees and enterprises to share the fruits of enterprise development, so that the wage growth of workers and enterprises will achieve synchronous growth.

"The development of enterprises, the increase of wages for workers is the absolute principle". Hu Lianrong is now the chief representative of the collective wage consultation of Hangzhou paint company. He said that as soon as December, employees will have to ask: "when will the Consultative Conference open this year, how much profit will be increased, and how much will the labor force increase next year?"

Finding a balance between labor and capital profits

According to the introduction, the basic idea of collective bargaining system is to recognize the interests of both employers and employers and to achieve collective interests through equal consultation.

It is also the most important means for market economy countries to coordinate labor relations in the past 200 years.

In the current collective wage negotiations of many enterprises in Zhejiang, negotiations include wages, work hours, insurance benefits, rest and vacations, labor safety and health, vocational training and so on.

"Factory sentiment" is different because Zhejiang's "consultation" is flexible and diverse.

For example, in towns and villages where small and medium-sized enterprises are relatively concentrated, regional wage consultation shall be carried out, signed by the Town Village joint union and the owners' committee or the operator's representative, while in the larger industrial group or block economic area, the trade union and the trade association shall negotiate and sign the contract.

The industries and regions with normal production and operation and better industrial base, with a focus on consultation, such as wage level, bonus distribution, subsidies and welfare, etc., with a view to establishing normal growth and adjustment mechanism of wages. In the industries and regions where production and management are more difficult and industries are relatively weak, the key is to negotiate wage payment methods, and so on.

It is understood that the wages of enterprises are generally agreed once a year, the two sides elected representatives, face to face wage decisions to determine the current year.

However, some enterprises will have quarterly meetings to discuss the adjustment of wage levels because they are affected by the seasons.

Some garment enterprises adjust their working hours in batches according to the batch.

In addition, a few days off maternity leave and how many benefits are available, almost all factory workers closely related to workers are allowed to participate in the "clash".

Chen Shiquan, vice chairman of the Zhejiang Provincial Federation of trade unions, believes that through collective bargaining, the relative weakness of workers in economic status has been reversed, so that workers' individual will will be expressed collectively through labor groups, improving the workers' inequality in bargaining status and the relatively weak bargaining power.

"Labor and capital sides determine collective welfare benefits and working conditions through collective bargaining, effectively promote mutual concession between the two sides, and achieve acceptable conditions. They become a relief valve to ease the contradiction between labor and capital and income distribution, and also the best way to resolve conflicts between employers and employees."

In the opinion of many labor experts, collective bargaining has not only cleared the channels of expression of the interests of workers, so that the wishes of workers can be expressed in the negotiations, and the right to speak in the relatively weak workers has been respected. It also helps to ease the antagonism between employers and employees and prevent the emergence of extreme conditions. It is an effective way to ease and ease conflicts between employers and employees.

A study by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences shows that the number of labor disputes handled by unit GDP is 1.9 in the whole country, 1.35 in Zhejiang, and the number of workers involved in labor disputes in unit GDP, 5.59 in the whole country and 2.40 in Zhejiang.

"This shows that the harmony of labor and capital in Zhejiang is clearly in the forefront of the whole country."

Chen Shiquan said.

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Institutional barriers to breakthroughs

It is learnt that, in order to avoid the "negotiation" of wages, formalization of collective bargaining in Zhejiang will require detailed records of the contents of the negotiations, regular inspections by the higher level trade unions and the filing of the wage standards agreed upon by the Municipal Federation of trade unions and the labour department.

In Hangzhou, wage collective bargaining is also included in the system of harmonious enterprise selection. Enterprises with a harmonious Title enjoy the right of priority, regardless of loans or project approval, so as to ensure the implementation of the system from the perspective of the system.

Reporters learned that in Hangzhou, although the departments concerned strongly implement the wage collective bargaining system, not all employees can feel the joy of raising wages.

"Theoretically, collective wage consultation should be a mutually beneficial and win-win choice for both sides of the labour force. The rights and dignity of the workers are guaranteed and the workers are not the only ones who benefit."

But a head of a trade union in Hangzhou admits that the process of promoting this system in Hangzhou and even in the whole country is not smooth.

In fact, the problems faced by Hangzhou are by no means accidental.

An unnamed business owner told reporters that the employees' awareness of safeguarding their rights is very strong now. Collective bargaining has written the contents of wages in black and white on paper. If employees get the hands, they can go to the labor department to claim their rights. Is this not the business that ties them up?

Some private owners privately say that in the same industry, if I raise wages for my employees, other businesses will not rise, and the same products, cost increases and price increases will not be without price advantage.

On the other hand, because of the asymmetry of the information between the trade union and the enterprise, the trade union as the representative of the staff can only guess the authenticity of the profits reported by the enterprise through daily observation of the enterprise, and it is difficult to grasp the right to speak, leading to the passive negotiation, and the effect is hard to say.

"The president of a trade union is also employed in an enterprise, and even in an executive position of an enterprise. A trade union cadre is the boss's job. How can he end up with his boss?

Lin Chao, deputy general manager of the company and chairman of the company's trade union, also frankly stated that if there is a contradiction in the negotiation process, because of his identity, "we will first consider the interests of the company. Only when we ensure the development needs of the company, we will give a relatively neutral negotiation proposal based on the union situation."

In addition, the extent of wage mobilization should be great in collective bargaining, and how to punish the enterprises who refuse to sign collective contracts and the independence of the trade unions.

"According to the labor contract law, one party shall make negotiations, and the other party must cooperate with each other without delay.

But what will he do if you delay him?

It is hard to restrain and urge him now.

It is said that we should order rectification, but there is no compulsion. "

The head of a local federation of trade unions said.