2015 ITUC Global Rights Index - China

2015 ITUC Global Rights Index Rating: 5

Physical attacks and threats:

Workers participating in strikes and pickets faced threats and harassment by both employers and government officials throughout the country. Wide-scale abuses can be explained by the fact that there is no explicit recognition of the right to strike. Therefore, protests and strike actions are often treated as public security issues.

Criminalisation of workers at Guangzhou Chinese medicine hospital:

In February 2013, nearly 200 health workers and security guards employed at the First Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine through employment agency were dismissed without prior notice and severance pay. In June 2013, the workers organised a picket at the hospital demanding severance pay. As a result, health workers were offered RMB 20,000 compensation. However, the agency that employed the security guards continued to refuse to pay severance. During the protest, workers clashed with police and were arrested. Twelve security workers were prosecuted after 4 months' detention for "assembling a crowd to disturb public order" under Article 290 of the Criminal Law. In April 2014, the district court found all workers guilty and sentenced three workers to a 9-month imprisonment and six workers to 8-month imprisonment. Charges against the remaining three workers were dropped and they were released.

The ITUC Global Rights Index Ratings:

1 // Irregular violation of rights
Collective labour rights are generally guaranteed. Workers can freely associate and defend their rights collectively with the government and/or companies and can improve their working conditions through collective bargaining. Violations against workers are not absent but do not occur on a regular basis.

2 // Repeated violation of rights
Countries with a rating of 2 have slightly weaker collective labour rights than those with the rating 1. Certain rights have come under repeated attacks by governments and/or companies and have undermined the struggle for better working conditions.

3 // Regular violation of rights
Governments and/or companies are regularly interfering in collective labour rights or are failing to fully guarantee important aspects of these rights. There are deficiencies in laws and/or certain practices which make frequent violations possible.

4 // Systematic violation of rights
Workers in countries with the rating 4 have reported systematic violations. The government and/or companies are engaged in serious efforts to crush the collective voice of workers putting fundamental rights under threat.

5 // No guarantee of rights
Countries with the rating of 5 are the worst countries in the world to work in. While the legislation may spell out certain rights workers have effectively no access to these rights and are therefore exposed to autocratic regimes and unfair labour practices.

5+ // No guarantee of rights due to the breakdown of the rule of law
Workers in countries with the rating 5+ have equally limited rights as countries with the rating 5. However, in countries with the rating 5+ this is linked to dysfunctional institutions as a result of internal conflict and/or military occupation. In such cases, the country is assigned the rating of 5+ by default.