NIKE SEES ‘GAPS' IN CHINA LABOUR LAWS

NIKE SEES ‘GAPS' IN CHINA LABOUR LAWS


By Tom Mitchell in Dongguan Monday, March 10, 2008
Workers at Nike's contract factories in China do not enjoy the same protection as their peers elsewhere because of “gaps” in the country's labour laws, the global footwear giant has said in a report.

“We commend the important steps taken by the Chinese government to increase protection of workers' rights,” Nike said in an inaugural report on its corporate social responsibility initiatives in China, where it works with 180 factories employing 210,000 workers.

“However, when comparing Chinese law with the basic protections outlined under the [International Labour Organisation] Convention, there are gaps in protection that workers elsewhere enjoy.”

The report is part of a larger effort by Nike to increase the transparency of its operations in China – where the company sources 35 per cent of its footwear – before this summer's Olympic games in Beijing.

Nike also implied that China's existing labour protection regime, although boosted by this year's implementation of a new labour contract law, falls short of standards set by the ILO.

“We encourage all governments to recognise and respect the principles embodied in ILO Conventions 87 and 98 regarding freedom of association and collective bargaining,” the report said, without citing China specifically.

Nike was an early supporter of China's labour contract law, which enhances collective bargaining rights. “We endorsed it because we thought it was a good thing,” said Hannah Jones, Nike's vice-president for corporate responsibility.

China's only government-approved union, the All China Federation of Trade Unions, is represented in about half of Nike's factories across the country. Activists hope the new labour contract law could lead to the establishment of more independent unions at companies where the official union is not represented



耐克：中国劳动法与国际标准有差距
英国《金融时报》汤姆•米切尔(Tom Mitchell)东莞报道 2008年3月10日 星期一 全球鞋业巨擘耐克(Nike)在一份报告中表示，由于中国劳动法中的“差距”，耐克在华代工工厂员工无法享受与其它国家员工同等的保护。
耐克在其首份关于在华企业社会责任行动的报告中表示：“我们对于中国政府加大员工权利保护的重要措施表示赞赏。”耐克在中国有180家合作工厂，这些工厂聘有21万名员工。“然而，如果把中国劳动法与《国际劳工组织公约》(International Labour Organisation Convention)规定员工基本保护相比，中国员工所享受的保护仍与其它国家员工存在差距。”

这份报告是耐克在今年北京夏季奥运会举办之前，提高其在华业务透明度措施的一部分。该公司35%的鞋类采购自中国。耐克还暗示，尽管今年中国开始施行新的劳动合同法，但中国现有劳动保护机制仍落后于国际劳工组织所设定标准。

报告称：“我们鼓励所有国家的政府，承认并尊重国际劳工组织第87号和第98号公约所包含的关于结社自由和集体谈判的原则。”报告没有特别列出中国。耐克是《中国劳动合同法》(labour contract law)早期的支持者，这部法律提高了雇员的集体谈判权。耐克负责社会责任事务的副总裁汉纳•琼斯(Hannah Jones)表示：“我们之所以支持这部法律，是因为我们认为这是一件好事。”

中国唯一得到政府批准的工会——中华全国总工会(All China Federation of Trade Unions)在耐克约半数在华代工工厂中设有代表。维权人士希望新的劳动合同法，能够有助于在那些中华全国总工会没有设立代表的企业，建立更多独立工会组织。译者/梁艳裳