China's Move to Strengthen Workers' Rights is Undermined by U.S. Corporations

Last week, the New York Times reported that U.S.-based corporations are trying to stop a proposed law that would protect Chinese workers.

China's new draft labor policy would crack down on sweatshop abuse and strengthen important human and labor rights by improving pay, treatment, health and safety, and other standards for Chinese workers.

However, U.S. corporations such as Wal-Mart, Google, UPS, Microsoft, Nike, AT&T, and Intel, acting through U.S. business organizations like the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and the U.S.-China Business Council are actively lobbying against the new labor legislation. And they’re threatening to take their factories elsewhere.

How ironic.

U.S.-based multinationals have long argued that their presence in China and overseas helps to raise human and labor rights standards abroad. Yet, the current actions by Wal-Mart and other U.S.-based businesses reveal the wolf in sheep's clothing.

In truth, multinationals greatly benefit from the huge pool of unregulated overseas workers. The vast majority of the world’s workers – whether in China, Mexico, or the United States -- do not.

Worldwide, workers face increasing insecurity in their jobs and lives. One sign of this is the rising tide of social protest across China. It’s these growing grassroots protest movements that are giving birth to the emergence of China’s new labor rights policy.

Workers in the United States have long been exploited by the false assumption that “Mexicans and Chinese are stealing our jobs.” The fact is, Chinese and Mexican workers also suffer enormous abuses within a system that is truly designed to benefit businesses.

Current actions by U.S.-corporations against China’s proposed labor rights legislation reveal this truth in stark light. Enacting China’s proposed "Labor Contract Law" would be a huge step forward in strengthening human rights in a country whose impact on the global economy profoundly affects the lives and rights of workers everywhere.