日本経済新聞　2007/6/30　

中国「終身雇用」へ新法　来年から施行
　労働者保護に力点　企業、コスト上昇も

　中国の全国人民代表大会(全人代＝国会に相当)常務委員会で２９日、労働者の解雇を制限する「労働契約法」が可決、成立した。２００８年１月から施行する。事実上、労使間で「終身雇用」契約を結ぶよう求め、違反した雇用者の賠償金支払いを義務付けた。中国が労働者保護に力点を置く姿勢を鮮明にした形だ。
　雇用契約の長期化は「給与水準の上昇→労働コストの拡大」の流れを生みかねない。中国展開する外資系企業は今後、コスト削減策を迫られる可能性がある。中国企業も農村部からの出稼ぎ労働者らを明確な雇用契約に基づかずに低賃金で採用していた例が少なくないとみられており、新たな労働法制への対応を迫られそうだ。
　同法は企業が勤続１０年以上を数えるか、期限つき雇用契約を連続して２回結ぶかした労働者との契約を更新する際、終身雇用に切り替えなければならないと明記。違反した場合、違反期間内は２倍の月給支払いを義務づけた。労働組合の権限も強化した。

外資 労使対立回避へ動く　
　日系企業　賃金制度を改善へ

　２９日の労働契約法成立をうけ、中国に拠点を置く外資系企業は来年１月１日の施行をにらんで対策を急ぐ。労働組合の権限強化で懸念される労使対立型の交渉構図を避けるため、日系企業は人事・賃金制度の改善に動く。長期雇用を促す同法は人件費上昇を招く可能性も大きく、安い労働コストを武器にしてきた中国拠点の競争力低下を招きかねないだけに、輸出型企業は事業戦略の見直しも迫られそうだ。

▼時間・コスト足かせ
　新法施行で労務管理の「時間」と「コスト」が増えるのは必至。人事・賃金制度を変更するには従業員代表や労働組合との協議が必要となるほか、従業員は現行制度に異議を申し立てる権利も持つ。「協議などに関する規定を作る必要がある」(村尾龍雄弁護士)とされる企業側では「どうやったら運用できるのか」(化学大手)と悲鳴も出ている。
　新法は勤続１０年以上の労働者に権利として認めていた「終身雇用」を義務化し、対象を期限付き契約を２回結んだ人にも拡げた。生産現場では短期の派遣社員の活用も難しくなる。経済補償金の支払い義務と合わせて人件費コスト上昇につながる可能性がある。半面、熟練度が求められる工場などでは「勤続年数を伸ばすのは有利」(日系情報機器大手)との声もある。

▼日立、グループ１００社とセミナー
　日系企業の間では、「あいまい」との指摘があった賃金・評価制度の透明化も加速しそうだ。中国に１００社以上のグループ会社を抱える日立製作所は７月、現地法人の経営責任者と人事担当者を対象にセミナー開催を予定。東レやホンダも「(今後発表される)細則を見ながら対応を急ぐ」という。
　６月１日に現地法人としての営業を始めたみずほコーポレート銀行は、「懸案を前倒しで解決する必要がある」と、法改正を先取りする形で各種規定を見直し、内規などの明文化を図った。

▼輸出型、戦略見直しも
　欧米系の中国進出企業で注目されるのは労働組合の設立問題だ。既にウォルマートやマクドナルドの中国拠点で労組が設立されるなど、米大手は外資系企業での組合設立の「標的」となっている。新法施行後は労組の役割が高まるため、設立圧力ヘの米企業の対応が注視される。
　華南地域などで大量の出稼ぎ労働者を雇用する台湾系や日系の輸出型企業は「生産量が多いときに１カ月単位で活用してきた」(事務機器大手）短期の派遣労働を使いにくくなる。輸出型企業の多くにとっては、加工貿易への優遇措置を縮減する中国政府の最近の政策に加えての影響が予想され、事業戦略全体を見直す必要も出てきそうだ。

強制労働事件 契機に
　企業の反発抑え 難産の末に採決

　労働契約法は当初の法案に「負担が重すぎる」と企業側が反発、三度にわたり法案を修正し、審議入りから採決までに１年半以上を要する"難産"となった。一部で年内成立を危ぶむ声すら上がっていたが、山西省で起きた少年らの強制労働事件が社会問題化し、全人代常務委員会の議論の風向きを変えた。
　常務委は１９９５年に施行された労働法を補完する目的で２００５年末から同法案の審議を始めた。中国では８０年代後半まで終身雇用が一般的だったが、国有企業改革が進むにつれて、企業側が一方的に人員削減に踏み切る例が頻発するようになったためだった。
　だが法案には「リストラヘの足かせになるなど収益に負担をかける」(日系企業関係者)と内外の企業が反発。常務委は一般から公募した１９万件超の意見を参考に、当初の法案から「派遣労働者の勤務が１年を超えれば直接雇用とする」とした項目を削除し、外資の抵抗はやや沈静化した。
　だが、低賃金での酷使や賃金未払いが顕著とされる中国企業の反発は続いた。常務委が開らかれた２４日時点で「採決を危ぶむ声もあった」（同法関係者)とされる。
　法案を成立に導いたのは、山西省で少年らが誘拐されて強制労働に従事させられた事件だった。常務委では「北京五輪を前に不当な雇用環境を速やかに改善すべきだ」「国際的な批判もあり、採決を急がねばならない」などの意見が相次いだという。

外資企業に絡む中国の近年の主な法制度変更など

2007-06-29　www.chinaview.cn

China's legislature adopts labor contract law

　　China's top legislator Wu Bangguo on Friday urged local governments and trade unions to do their best to protect workers' legal rights after lawmakers voted for a labor contract law.

    The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC),China's top legislature, on Friday adopted the labor contract law following the exposure of forced labor scandals in brick kilns in central and north China.

    The law, which will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2008, won 145 of the 146 votes. One vote wasn't cast.

    Governments and trade unions at all levels should do their best to publicize the law among workers and employers to better safeguard the rights of employees, Wu, NPC Standing Committee chairman, said when the Committee concluded its weeklong legislative session.

    He said the law will regulate employers' use of labors and help employees protect their legal rights.

    According to the law, officials will face administrative penalties or criminal prosecution for abusing their authority or neglecting their responsibilities that result in serious harm to the interests of workers.

    Lawmakers lambasted officials involved in the forced labor scandals in north Shanxi Province and central Henan Province during their deliberation of the draft.

    The forced labor scandals made headlines in China this month, sparking outrage among the Chinese public and arousing concern from national leaders. The workers were forced to work long hours without pay in brick kilns, mines and other small industries.

    The central government has sent a team of investigators to look into the scandals.

    Investigations reveal 2,036 brick kilns were operating without licenses and illegally used 53,036 migrant workers.

    Latest official statistics showed that a total of 576 workers have been rescued from illegal brick kilns in Shanxi and Henan and the investigation and rescue work is still continuing.

    By June 18, police have detained 168 people accused of holding workers in slavery under appalling conditions at small brick kilns and mines in Shanxi and Henan.

    Xin Chunying, deputy chairwoman of the NPC Law Committee, said there have already been relevant laws, including the Criminal Law and the labor law, which could be applied to punish the employers and officials involved in the forced labor scandals.

    "The labor contract law makes detailed provision concerning this issue following the exposure of the forced labor scandals," she told a press conference on Friday afternoon.

    The draft was first submitted to the top legislature for deliberation in 2005 and released for public suggestions from March 20 to April 20 last year, which was regarded as a major step in the country's legislative transparency. More than 190,000 responses from the public were collected in a month.

    The new law is expected to help protect workers' legal rights by demanding a written contract, Xin said.

    Under the new law, if employers don't sign a written contract with their employees within a year after the employees start to work for them, it should be taken as that they have signed a labor contract of no fixed term.

    "Employers should not force employees to work overtime and employees can terminate the contract without early notice to the employers if they are forced to work by violence, threat or restriction of personal freedom," the law reads.

    Xin said such provisions will be useful when workers' interests are harmed.

    However, some foreign companies worried the law would increase their cost when the draft was released for public suggestions, Xin said.

    "But those who didn't have a record of illegal employment don't need to worry about the increase of cost at all," she said.

    Xin also said it is unnecessary for foreign companies to worry over bias in the application of the law.

    "If there were some bias, it would be in favor of foreign investors because local governments have great tolerance for them in order to attract and retain investment," Xin said, adding that foreign companies must abide by the law just like their Chinese counterparts.

    NPC Standing Committee member Zheng Gongcheng, an expert on labor law, said the labor contract law itself favors neither employees nor employers.

    "As a law that gives full protection to workers' legal rights, it also stipulates that employees must shoulder equal duties, such as keeping confidential of the issues concerning employers' intellectual property rights. This is crucial for foreign companies," Zheng said.

    There have been 570,000 foreign enterprises in China since the country opened it's door to foreign investors in 1980s, and some 25 million people have been working for them by the end of 2005, according to official statistics.

    Survey found that many foreign companies in coastal Jiangsu and Guangdong provinces overworked and underpaid their employees.

    It was reported earlier this year that McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut in southern Chinese city Guangzhou paid their part-time Chinese employees four yuan (52 U.S. cents) per hour, more than 40percent less than local minimum wage of 7.5 yuan (97 U.S. cents).

    The fast food chains were also exposed for failing to sign labor contracts with employees and overworked staff.

June 30, 2007 Washington Post

China Enacts Stronger Labor Law
　　　New Rules to Protect Abused Migrant Workers

The Chinese legislature passed a law Friday to provide more protection to the millions of farm youths who leave home and become cheap labor in the factories and construction sites that have mushroomed in China's booming economy.

The Standing Committee of the China People's Congress, in approving the law, presented it as a bulwark against widespread abuses of the often-uneducated migrant workers, such as forced labor, withholding of pay and unwarranted dismissal. The country was alarmed two weeks ago, for example, by the discovery that hundreds of Chinese were forced to work in conditions resembling slavery at dozens of brick kilns in Shanxi province while local Communist Party officials did nothing to stop it.

In reaction, lawmakers at the last minute added a provision to the long-discussed labor code to mandate punishment for officials who are shown to be negligent or corrupt in allowing entrepreneurs to abuse workers. This and the unusual public rollout of the new law seemed designed to show the Chinese public that the central government of President Hu Jintao is determined to crack down on corrupt officials and protect those left behind by the swift economic growth of the past 25 years.

"The law is meant to protect the workers and their rights," Xin Chunying, who heads the Standing Committee's labor committee, said at a news conference. The Standing Committee is a permanent body of the China People's Congress, a legislature whose hundreds of provincial delegates meet once a year to voice approval for government policies.

Hu and his premier, Wen Jiabao, repeatedly have ordered crackdowns on negligent and corrupt local officials based on existing law, most recently after the kiln workers were discovered. Laws and regulations have long been in place to protect workers. But as is frequently the case in China, the enforcement of the rules has often been frustrated by collusion between local entrepreneurs and party officials eager to promote economic development and supplement their own bank accounts.

China forbids independent labor unions. The official All China Federation of Trade Unions, tied to the same party bureaucrats, functions as an arm of the government -- and thus of economic development -- more than as a watchdog for workers.

Legislators said one feature of the new law that might help workers is reinforcement of the requirement for detailed contracts spelling out what workers are entitled to in return for their time on the job. Construction workers in particular have found that frequently, after six months or a year on the job, their employers refuse to give them their pay, arguing that development companies ran out of cash and did not provide money to the construction companies.

Migrant workers -- as many as to 900 million have left farms to find jobs -- typically get dormitory-style housing and basic food as part of their benefits. They often work without pay until just before the Chinese New Year, when they are supposed to receive their back pay to enable them to return home and shower their families with gifts.

NYT June 30, 2007

China Passes a Sweeping Labor Law

China's legislature passed a sweeping new labor law today that strengthens protections for workers across its booming economy, rejecting pleas from foreign investors who argued that the measure would reduce China's appeal as a low-wage, business-friendly industrial base.

The new labor contract law, enacted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, requires employers to provide written contracts to their workers, restricts the use of temporary laborers and makes it harder to lay off employees.

The law, which is to take effect in 2008, also enhances the role of the Communist Party's monopoly union and allows collective bargaining for wages and benefits. It softens some provisions that foreign companies said would hurt China's competitiveness, but retained others that American multinationals had lobbied vigorously to exclude.

The law is the latest step by President Hu Jintao to increase worker protections in a society that, despite its nominal socialist ideology, has emphasized rapid, capitalist-style economic growth over enforcing labor laws or ensuring an equitable distribution of wealth.

But it may fall short of improving working conditions for the tens of millions of low-wage workers who need the most help unless it is enforced more rigorously than existing laws, which already offer protections that on paper are similar to those in developed economies.

Passage of the measure came shortly after officials and state media unearthed the widespread use of slave labor in as many as 8,000 brick kilns and small coal mines in Shanxi and Henan provinces, one of the most glaring labor scandals since China began adopting market-style economic policies a quarter century ago.

Police have freed nearly 600 workers, many of them children, held against their will in factories owned or operated by well-connected businessmen and local officials.

Abuses of migrant laborers have been endemic in boom-time China, where millions of temporary workers have faced unsafe working conditions, collusion between factory owners and local officials and unpaid wages. Party-run courts often fail to enforce their legal rights.

Senior leaders in Beijing have grown increasingly concerned about the issue because migrant workers have contributed to a surge in social unrest and violent crime.

While the new law will do little to eliminate violations of existing laws, it does require that employers treat migrant workers as they do other employees. All employees will have to have written employment contracts that comply with minimum wage and safety regulations.

It also moves China closer to European-style labor regulations that emphasize fixed- and open-term employment contracts enforceable by law. It requires that employees with short-term contracts become full-time employees with lifetime benefits after a short-term contract is renewed twice.

Perhaps most significantly, it gives the state-run union and other employee representative groups the power to bargain with employers.

"This is the biggest change in Chinese labor law in the reform and opening period," said Qiu Jie, a labor law expert at People's University in Beijing. "It gives legal protection to the vast majority of workers who had no way to protect their rights under the old system."

Many multinational corporations had lobbied against provisions in an earlier draft of the labor law. The early draft, circulated widely in business and legal circles, more sharply limited the use of temporary workers and required obtaining approval from the state-controlled union for layoffs.

Companies argued that the rules would substantially increase labor costs and reduce flexibility, and some foreign businesses warned that they would have little choice but to move their operations out of China if the provisions were enacted unchanged.

International labor experts said that several of the most delicate clauses had been watered down. But lawyers representing some big global companies doing business here complained today that the new law still imposes a heavy burden.

"It will be more difficult to run a company here," said Andreas Lauffs, a lawyer at Baker & McKenzie, which represents many of America's biggest corporations in China.

The National People’s Congress released only a summary of the new legislation, not the full text, and officials did not detail how they had changed the final version from multiple drafts that had circulated earlier.

The summary said companies must “consult” the state-backed union if its plans workforce reductions, suggesting a softening from earlier drafts that gave unions the right to approve or reject layoffs before they could take place.

But the summary retained language that limits “probationary contracts 試用契約” that many employers use to deny employees full-time status. It also states that severance pay will be required for many workers, and tightens the conditions under which an employee can be fired.

Moreover, the law empowers company-based branches of the state-run union or employee representative committees to bargain with employers over salaries, bonuses, training and other work-related benefits and duties.

In the past, workers have had to negotiate wages with their employers individually. China’s state-run union has had almost no involvement in setting wage and benefit levels.

The Communist Party’s monopoly union, known as the All-China Federation of Trade Unions　中華全国総工会, is a legacy of China’s socialist planned economy. It is an official state organization charged with overseeing workers that in practice has tended either to play no role whatsoever or to help managers monitor and control workers.

中国では労働組合の機能は、従業員の合法的権益と民主的権利を擁護すること、従業員大衆が建設と改革に参加し、経済と社会発展の任務を遂行するよう動員、組織すること、企業の民主的管理に参与し、従業員が絶えず思想道徳と科学技術、教養の素質を高めるよう教育すること（擁護、建設、参与、教育の4つの職能）とされている。

Workers are not allowed to form their own, independent unions. The state union rarely if ever presses for higher wages or enhanced benefits. It does not permit strikes.

But Mr. Hu has pressed the union to take a more active role, and it has demanded greater representation in private Chinese and foreign-invested companies. Some foreign company executives say that if the union participates in wage and layoff negotiations it could begin to greatly complicate labor relations.

Foreign executives said that they are especially worried about new labor regulations because their companies tend to comply with existing laws more rigorously than some of their Chinese competitors do. Their competitive disadvantage could increase sharply, they said, if the new rules put fresh burdens on foreign companies that their local counterparts ignore.

Chinese legislative officials said today that such concerns are overblown, and that many local governments bend the rules to favor foreign investors over local companies.

“If there is some bias in the application of the law, it would tend to be in favor of foreign investors because local governments do so much to attract investment,” Xin Chunying, deputy chairwoman of the legislature’s law committee, said at a news conference announcing the new measures.

“The only people who will suffer under the new law are those who violate the law,” she said.