By Yang Xingyun (杨兴云)
Nation, page 11
Issue No. 572, June 4, 2012
Translated by Song Chunling
Original article: [Chinese]

Recently OHMS Electronics (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (欧姆电子(深圳)有限公司), a factory with links to the Japanese firm Panasonic, became one of the first companies in Shenzhen to allow employees to directly-elected their trade union representatives. The election was part of a new pilot program to test electoral reform among the cities trade unions.

The elections are in contrast with the current situation in most companies, where trade union officials are appointed by company management.

The election of trade union representatives at OHMS was conducted according to China's Trade Union Law.

On May 27, 75 representatives elected by all the members of the trade union, chose 11 trade union council members from a total of 14 candidates and also elected a president from a choice of three candidates.

However the Shenzhen Federation of Trade Unions (深圳总工会) told the EO that they don't endorse the use of the term "direct election" to describe what has been going on at OHMS and other companies in Shenzhen.

According to Bi Yufei (毕宇飞), head of the publicity department of the federation, the voting procedures that Shenzhen is now promoting, should instead be referred to as "normalized democratic elections."

The head of the publicity department also told the EO that Zhao Shaobo (赵绍波), the newly-elected president of the OHMS union, would not be available for an interview as this would disturb his work. This is despite the fact that when the EO contacted Zhao earlier, he told the journalist that "I can’t agree to an interview independently. However, if the federation agrees, I won't refuse either."

A source from a related government department in Shenzhen revealed that the city government is under pressure due to the widespread use of the sensitive term "direct election" in the media and therefore city leaders have ordered officials to make sure that the "normalized democratic elections" were handled in a low-key fashion.

Apart from the Japanese-owned OHMS, workers at Shenzhen Hailiang Storage Product Co (深圳海量存储设备), a subsidiary of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, as well as those at Coca Cola Shenzhen have also elected their union leaders this year, under the guidance of the Federation of Trade Unions.

One source told the EO that the new approach to union elections was being introduced at the suggestion of Wang Yang (汪洋), the provincial party secretary of Guangdong, with the aim of strengthening city's the trade unions.

However, the reforms are also thought to be connected with the recent outbreak in industrial disputes in Shenzhen.

In March this year, there about 700 workers at OHMS took part in a sit-in which was aimed at convincing the company to provide better welfare to employees. At Hailiang Storage Product, more than 2,000 workers participated in a strike last December.

Guo Wanda (郭万达), the vice president of China Development Institute (综合开发研究院), thinks the direct election of the trade union leaders is "very important" given the current situation. Guo said the reason why there are so many conflicts between employees and employers is because the current trade union system is defective. Guo says he doesn't understand why experienced foreign enterprises pay less attention to trade unions when they come to China. Guo also pointed out that "the key is how to make sure the elected-president will truly represent the interest of the employees after the election."