Wei YY :X City (county): Trade Union Chairperson
Case Summary
Reference: ESRC/Case Study/A/9
The following case study is based on extended interviews with Wei YY who has gained
recognition for a new style trade union leader who has launched several successful
initiatives aimed at reforming his local union federation so that it is better able to deal
with market labour relations.
Trade unions are organizations of the weak – not governmental organisations or law
makers. Where there is no right to strike or established practice of sector-level unions and
collective agreement/bargaining at sector level, the role and capacity of the senior
individual union chairperson becomes a key lynchpin in the general improvement of trade
union practice.
The X City (county) has been a key player in developing union reform in general and the
trend of socialization (shehui hua) union rights work (wiequan). Wei YY is the chair and
main force behind this new model which has received recognition at the highest level.
A native of X county, Wei comes from a ‘grassroots’ background and is profoundly aware
of his roots. He has strong feelings of ‘class sympathy’. Wei rose up through the ranks via
being party secretary in various townships. First appointed to the X city trade union
standing committee in 1993 and appointed a chair Party Committee in 1998. Prior to his
union work, Wei had been working as Party Sec. of HYT Township.
Many cadres regarded union work as somewhere one was sent when put out to grass.
Although Wei had no previous experience of union work he brought his sense of
responsibility and energy to the new post. He had previously been very popular as a rural
cadre and some villagers had even petitioned for formal recognition of his work. In
preparation for his new job, he came across internal and media reports of workers
jumping from rooftops in protest against unpaid wages; of enraged migrant workers
murdering the wife of a boss etc. He concluded that the traditional ‘aid societies’ of
migrant workers were unable to protect migrants’ rights and that effective trade union
organisation was required if labour relations were not going to hinder future reform.
In August 1999, Wei concentrated on setting up enterprise-based unions in the township
of SX. At the same time, he set out on an unprecedented reform of setting up a legal
advice room in X city (county) and persuaded the leader of the city’s Judicial Department
to act as a consultant to the union federation. The latter advised Wei that workers didn’t
channel their disputes through the formal dispute resolution process primarily for two
reasons: insufficient funds and/or understanding of the process of law. Of the more than
10,000 labour disputes each year in X administrative area, little more than 100 made it to
arbitration or the courts.
Wei’s response was to carry out a detailed survey of over 10,000 workers, union cadres
and bosses with follow up meetings. His union work hereinafter was based on the results
of this study. Including:
Perhaps Wei’s most outstanding achievement to date is the establishment of the X Centre
Upholding Workers’ Legal Rights, overcoming opposition from both government
departments and employers in the process. This was a not-for-profit social organization
that was approved by the MoC and recruited its staff beyond the union fence. Its aim was
to break the paradoxical situation of workers not needing the union most of the time and
the union being unable to help the workers when they did need it.
Wei succeeded in reorganizing the enterprise-based mediation committee system into a
‘Peoples Mediation Committee’ (PMC), which was eventually recognised by the judicial
department and was accepted in law. The existing system of mediation did not work, the
PMC aimed to exploit the potential savings that a working system of mediation offered,
as it had the potential to avoid the expense and delays of formal arbitration. The PMC
was managed by the new trade-union-managed rights centre mentioned above.
After considerable lobbying efforts, Wei finally got the Centre included in the Judiciary
Legal Aid System under the guidance of various government agencies, including the
trade union federation, the MOLSS, the judiciary and the courts.
Wei has fostered a spirit of mediation, negotiation and compromise in different types of
labour disputes:
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He negotiated a 5,000 yuan pay-off for retired workers and semi-retired workers
who had missed out on a share offer of their privatizing work unit. When the
share price went up, the retired workers petitioned the union to intervene on their
behalf. The union persuaded the company to establish a special consolation fund.
Rights Centre staff successfully got a trade union chair reinstated after he was
sacked from the zip-fastener factory where he worked.
In one state-owned company in X city, the union office and the Personnel
Department were merged to form a HR department. Wei successfully got this
merger cancelled on the grounds that it violated the spirit and letter of the Trade
Union Law.
37 construction workers from Jiangxi looted the rooms of a gang master and
planned the kidnap of the site manager. Leaders from the county in Jiangxi where
the workers came from rushed to X and appealed to the government for help in
solving the issue. They passed it on to the staff at the Centre, who successfully
negotiated a compromise
Work injury compensation for a lift worker.
Sexual harassment case in which the Centre got full compensation for a worker
who was forced to leave the factory. Case also involved staff from the Centre
seeing off thugs and making sure the woman got home safely
In 2002, the Rights Centre got permission – with the support of the MOLSS – to establish
an arbitration court, which is also recognized by the City Labour Arbitration Court.
Between 2002 and 2006 this has dealt with 138 cases and has four qualified arbitrators
working at the centre.
Wei has also fostered close contacts with media and government departments in his
efforts to get more resources allocated to labour relations problems. Through formal
arrangements with various state news agencies, journalists have been given access to
union rights stations. The provincial trade union newspaper, Z Workers Daily, has agreed
to sponsor the running costs of one such station.
Wei has also worked to include senior city leaders in labour cases. A major case of wage
arrears was highlighted in the media after Wei encouraging the direct intervention of the
Mayor, who handed over the cash to migrant workers. The Mayor apologised to the
workers on behalf of the government and expressed public support for the work of the X
City Trade Union. Apart from providing excellent publicity for the media the intervention
of such a senior political figure also encourage employers to take the union’s efforts at
reform and representation much more seriously.