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Foxconn must allow labor unions
By Wang Hong-zen ¤ý§»¤¯
Monday, May 31, 2010, Page 8
Yet another employee has committed suicide at a plant in
China owned by Taiwanese company Foxconn. The issue has been discussed at length
in the media, with some saying that modern production puts too much pressure on
workers. Chinese academics blame an unfair society and labor system.
One crucial factor has been missing from the discussions ¡X labor relations. This
is a thorny problem in any capitalist system and one that inevitably touches on
the right of workers to organize.
Many Taiwanese high-tech companies say that their management systems provide
employees with better welfare, in the same way that a patriarch grants favors to
the younger generation in a family. This, however, is a matter of charity and
runs counter to the rights of workers as equal citizens in a democratic society
to freely organize labor unions to represent their interests.
In the past, it was said that applicants for jobs at one of Taiwan¡¦s top 100
companies were asked: ¡§If the conditions offered by the company were far better
than what is required by labor legislation, would you still feel that there was
a need to join a labor union?¡¨
If the answer was ¡§yes,¡¨ so the story goes, the candidate was rejected.
When amending the Teacher¡¦s Act (±Ð®vªk), the Ministry of Education and certain
legislators thought that the conditions enjoyed by university professors were so
good that they should be denied the right to form a union.
Employers are still guided by a dated view of management, namely: ¡§What are you
complaining about? I gave you the best.¡¨
Foxconn¡¦s management system is a microcosm of Taiwanese society. The firm
provides a far better environment than other companies, paying salaries and
making social security contributions in accordance with the law. Dormitories,
canteens, holidays and entertainment centers are all provided. However
superficially impressive, such a patriarchal mentality does not allow labor
unions and cannot tolerate ¡§disobedient¡¨ employees or external criticism.
This approach to management is not unique to Foxconn. The same situation exists
at Young Fast Optoelectronics in Taiwan, where employees were laid off recently
after trying to organize a labor union. When the government intervened and asked
the company to rehire the fired employees, the firm¡¦s leadership resisted,
choosing to spend money on lawsuits instead.
It is also common to see companies organize their own ¡§in-house¡¨ labor unions as
a way of ¡§taming¡¨ employees. Independent worker-organized labor unions do not
exist in Chinese factories. The deputy factory director is often the union
chairman and is also frequently sent by local government, with no interest in
speaking up for the workers.
When employees at Young Fast Optoelectronics organized their 90-strong labor
union, the company sent more than 400 other workers to join this young
organization in an attempt to control it from within.
Research shows that Taiwanese factories in Vietnam claiming to provide better
welfare, higher salaries and better working conditions than their competitors,
in full compliance with government regulations, still experience serious
strikes. In contrast, one Taiwanese factory in Vietnam paid slightly less than
rivals, but its workers never went on strike. Why?
The simple answer is that this company allowed workers to organize labor unions.
The election of union cadres followed democratic procedures. Whenever there was
a dispute between workers and management, representatives from both sides sat
down and talked to resolve problems in a mutually beneficial way. Issues
addressed included foremen shouting at workers, unfair compensation and fights
among personnel.
Taiwan¡¦s high-tech companies are the product of a special type of labor system
that has its roots firmly in the past. They provide welfare with a patriarchal
mentality, but lower wages, suppress workers¡¦ right of association and ask for
preferential rental taxes to accumulate company capital.
Such policies create an environment which denies Taiwanese workers basic human
rights.
The decision by so many Foxconn employees to commit suicide is not merely an
issue of personal psychological problems. Neither hiring monks to bring
benediction to the factory nor bringing in 2,000 mental-health counselors will
solve the conflict between workers and the management.
The only solution to this dilemma is to allow dialogue on an equal footing
between workers and management through the establishment of labor unions.
Wang Hong-zen is president of the Graduate Institute of
Sociology at National Sun Yat-sen University.
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