The Guangzhou Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) announced that by September 10 this year, the coverage of trade unions among Fortune 500 enterprises in Guangzhou shall rise substantially to 90%.

Currently, up to 324 Fortune 500 enterprises have found their way in Guangzhou, however, only 174 of them have trade unions, accounting for only 54% of the total number.

Chen Weiguang, chairman of the GFTU, said that most of the enterprises keeping their workers from setting up trade unions are Taiwan- or Hong Kong-invested, mainly to avoid allotting trade union operation expenditures, which, according to the constitution, should reach 2% of the total amount of wages.

However, as the enterprises are allowed to take these expenditures into their overall cost, the establishment of trade unions eventually helps bring down their tax burden.

Multinational agencies are mainly in office buildings in the CBD. Workers in the same buildings can set up joint trade unions .

Another reason that prevented the establishment of trade unions, according to the GFTU, is the relatively small number of the staff, because a considerable proportion of the agencies of the multinationals in Guangzhou have less than 25 employees, missing the minimum requirement for the establishment of a trade union.

As these small agencies converge in office building blocks in Tianhe and Yuexiu district of downtown, the GFTU suggests that innovations can be adopted to solve the problem, for instance, workers in the same office building can set up a joint trade union so as to better organize themselves and improve their conditions.

Furthermore, in keeping with the changing situation, the GFTU will shift its focus of work from persuading management to mobilize workers and link the presence of trade unions to the businesses’ public image.

Editor: Yan