China: union proposes rules to protect female workers
The China Leather Industry Association (CLIA) has reported that a Chinese trade union organisation has called for better protection for female employees, who often are employed in unhealthy environments and lack basic protection.
According to the CLIA, there are about 137 million female employees in China. Many of them work in risky occupations, especially in industries such as shoe and bag making and leather processing, Zhang Shiping, vice-chairwoman of the All China Federation of Trade Unions, said at a news conference on 7 March, 2011.
“Many female workers are working in poisonous and hazardous environments, where there is excessive dust, noise and toxic gases,” she said. “They do not receive protection or regular health examinations.”
Labour-intensive and small enterprises with old facilities and outdated technology can often be the sites of accidents such as poisonings, explosions and fires, she said.
Ms Shiping said female employees ought to enjoy other rights as well. Pregnant workers, for instance, should be exempt from having to perform specific dangerous tasks and should be entitled, upon returning to their jobs after having given birth, to earn the same salaries they had received before.
“The majority of female workers in the clothing industry do not receive the statutory 90-day maternity leave,” she said. “Many are even dismissed during their pregnancies or maternity periods.”
Ding Dajian, head of the All China Federation of Trade Union ‘women workers’ affairs department, said most small and medium-sized enterprises in China do not provide occupational health services to female workers. For example, among the 2,110 corporations surveyed by the All China Federation of Trade Unions in 2009, about 55% said they do not offer regular health checks to female employees.
“The incidence of gynecological diseases such as breast and cervical cancers among female workers is on a rise in recent years because of the lack of early discovery and intervention,” she said.
Ms Dajian said the All China Federation of Trade Unions has called on lawmakers and the labour sector to quickly revise the Female Workers’ Labor Protection Regulation, which was laid out by the Chinese government 22 years ago.
She said one thing the regulation does not govern is the use of potentially dangerous chemical materials that have grown more common with the invention of new technologies.
Ms Dajian called for the revised code to clearly define which jobs pregnant workers should not be made to do, order all businesses to offer regular health examinations, and prolong the 90 days now given for maternity leave to 14 weeks.
Speaking at the news conference, Li Binsheng, a member of the All China Federation of Trade Unions secretariat, said female workers could better protect their rights by establishing more committees to represent their interests in trade unions and by making a greater use of collective bargaining.
By September 2010, China had set up more than 1.5 million such committees in 77.6% of the trade unions. The All China Federation of Trade Unions plans to extend the organisations to all of the trade unions in the country by 2013.
By the end of 2010, about 714,000 contracts concerning women workers had been signed in China. Their terms regulate 1.2 million enterprises and more than 54 million workers, according to figures from the All China Federation of Trade Unions.
