in china，the acftu won a debate over how to define a labourer ，an issueof central importance because local governments and the ministry of agriculturewere attempting to deny the status of ？labourers ìto over a 100million formerpeasants who were employed in rural industries，thereby excluding them from theprotection of the labour law.[71]the acftu also won a compromise on the maximumnumber of regular working hours per week.the acftu advocated 40hours，while otherinterests within the people's congress pressed for 48hours ；the compromise was44hours.a second dispute was over the maximum number of hours of overtime permonth ：the argument focused on 24hours versus 48hours ，and the compromisewas 36hours.in practice ，in the years since then the 44-hour work week and thelegal maximum of 36hours of overtime have been regularly violated in the foreign-fundedenterprises ，and increasingly so in state enterprises as well ，as they havebeen placed under more intense competition from the challenge of cheap migrant labouremployed in the non-state sector.but at least the law is in the books，and inthe large core state-run enterprises it is largely observed.
one significant similarity between the two countries'laws is the absence ofany reference to the communist party.also，both governments ，having recognizedthe necessity that their trade unions should play a bigger role ，accept a tripartitestructure for industrial relations：of labour，employers and the state.[72]thetrade unions'role of protecting workers'labour rights is affirmed.both laws grantthe unions a right to collective bargaining on behalf of the workers，both lawsestablish the necessity for management to pay minimum wages and to sign labour contractswith workers，both laws recognize the emergence of labour disputes ，and bothdelineate the role of the unions in labour conciliation and arbitration committees.
on close comparison ，the vietnamese law's 198articles（china's has 107）are more detailed and ，if enforced，would more effectively protect labour rights.for example ，the chinese section on collective agreements contains only threebrief articles.collective agreements are mentioned as an option（the word usedis？may ì（keyi）；and any draft contract is to be？submitted to the congressof the staff and workers……for discussion and adoptionì（article 33），leavingvague what happens when a firm has no such congress.the vietnamese law's sectionon collective agreements，in contrast，consists of 11articles with numerous sub-clauses.for instance，the right of the union to negotiate collectively on behalf of theworkers is guaranteed in article 46.1：？each party shall have the right to requestthe signing of a collective agreement ì。wWw.11665.cOm？a collective agreement shall only besigned if the negotiated content……is approved by more than 50per cent of themembers of the labour collectiveì（article 25.3）；and once signed it ？shallbe made known to all employees of the enterprise……ì（article 49.1）；？each partyshall have the right to request amendments……ì（article 50）；and representatives ？shall be entitled to payment of salary during the time of negotiation ……ì（article43）。the vietnamese law is precise in specifying that an employer's specific non-complianceis a breach of the law.
in the vietnamese labour law，numerous articles also specifically prohibitemployers from exploiting workers'labour.for example，where disciplinary finesare taken from workers'salaries，it is stipulated that？the aggregate amount deductedmust not exceed 30per cent of the monthly wage ì；with regard to workers on probation，the wage of the employee？must be at least 70per cent of the normal wage for thejob ìand the trial period should not exceed sixty days ……ì（article 32）；[73]the workplace's internal labour regulations ？must not be contrary to labour legislation……ì（article 82.1）；and prior to proclaiming any labour regulations，？theemployer must consult the executive committee of the trade union of the enterpriseì（article 82.2）。none of the above specifics exist in the chinese law.yet inchina these are precisely the kinds of practices that managers have used to extractfrom their workforce harder work for less pay.
but the biggest difference between the two laws is that after intense debate，[74]vietnamese law-makers granted workers a right to strike（article 7.4，173）。the chinese labour law，by omission，effectively places the issue of strikes ina state of limbo：neither legalizing nor criminalizing it.
diverging labour regimes
the above comparison of the two countries'laws and constitutions suggests thatthe vietnamese communist party is more willing to relax its hold on the labour unionsthan is the chinese communist party.but organizational inertia ，the ideologicallegacies of socialism and the two governments'present eagerness to maintain labourpeace and to attract foreign capital make for a large gap between what is writtenon paper and the reality of what gets implemented.in this section we shall arguethat while the situation with regard to labour in both countries continues to share ？socialist ìcharacteristics ，there are definite signs of divergence as well.
in the state enterprises，a collectivist ethos and corporatist structure sometimespersists，and the similarities continue.the line of demarcation between managementand labour in practice remains blurred in the state factories of both countries.in vietnam，the workplace union has representation on the？council of four interestsì（bo tu ？management ，party，trade union and youth league ）in which it seemsto be able to play a role in wage determination and distribution of profits andin approving management decisions.[75]similarly，in chinese state enterprises ，wage policies are supposed to need the approval of the staff and workers'representativecouncil.but since a large number of the so-called representatives are members ofthe managerial staff，including the managers ，a system of checks and balancesdoes not exist.[76]the organizational structure in chinese state enterprises isheavily weighted against the workers.in contrast ，the presence of a trade uniondoes make a difference at a vietnamese workplace.our fieldwork findings revealthat the party branches are more likely to follow recommendations from the tradeunion.
in the foreign-funded sector，the governments and their trade unions in bothchina and vietnam regard the escalation of industrial conflict as a pressing problem.with the promulgation of the labour laws，both perceive that maintaining labourpeace in this sector will entail setting up union branches in such firms.but toquickly set up large numbers of workplace unions is an impossible task，especiallyin china where the number runs into the tens of thousands.
unionization figures for china's foreign-run firms are，at best，approximations.[77]after the labour law was put in place ，to fulfil new enrolment quotas local unionofficials were dispatched to foreign-run factories to seek approval from managementto set up a union branch.more often than not the union chair who emerged came fromwithin the managerial staff and in some cases was none other than the enterprise'smanager.[78]the national press held up as a model of success the shekou industrialzone trade union，which had begun its expansion into the foreign-funded sectorseveral years earlier and was the first to attain a unionization rate of 99percent.yet a 1993guangdong province trade-union report gives the following figures：of the 250trade union chairs at the foreign-funded factories in shekou，13per cent simultaneously held top managerial positions ；another 44per cent werefactory department managers ；and the remaining 47per cent were lower-level managerialcadres，production line supervisors，or ordinary workers.[79]new unions set upin this manner are at best ineffective；at worst they have become a managementtool to control workers.in the shanghai region these management-controlled unionbranches have been mushrooming in recent years.[80]
although the number of foreign-funded enterprises in vietnam only stood at 1，400in 1996，unionizing them all within six months was no easy task either.betweenmid-1994and 1996the unionization rate at such firms increased from 15per cent[81]to 20per cent.[82]in the new economic zones such as tan thuan near ho chi minhcity，as in china，there is also the problem that the newly-established workplaceunions are dominated by the management.the zone's deputy manager is simultaneouslythe head of the zone's trade union.under such a personnel set-up ，the 14unionizedforeign enterprises out of 34in the zone are likely to be management-dominated.
a notable difference between vietnam and china lies in the emergence of spontaneouslabour groups called？labour associations ìand ？occupational unions ì，due tovietnamese workers'demands in the foreign-funded and other sectors.this is particularlythe case in ho chi minh city，which has a history of adversarial industrial relations，as noted earlier in the chapter.[83]taxi drivers in ho chi minh city ，after participatingin industrial actions and strikes ，set up their own union in 1996.[84]by 1996，492labour associations totalling 21，800members[85]had been organized by cyclodrivers ，cooks，market porters and the like in the non-state sector.[86]thusfar even the official trade unions are not clear about the status of these labourassociations.the vgcl gives them moral support but no money.
meanwhile ，the 17vietnamese occupation-based unions（known as？industrialunionsìin both vietnam and china ）have gained more autonomy and their numberhas increased to 24.[87]one of these new occupation-based unions is the publicsector union，which was organized with technical assistance from the australianpublic sector union.[88]all told ，by 1996these occupation-based unions had 467，000members ，co-existing with the 2.6million trade union members.[89]in 1997，to further strengthen the occupation-based unions ，the unions of five industries（light industry，engineering and metallurgy ，chemical ，geology and energy ）were amalgamated into one large union ，the national union of industrial workers.the vice-president of this new union views it as markedly different from the chinesesystem of unions.having spent eighteen months in shanghai in the early 1990s ，he observes that in vietnam there will be an increasing balance of strength betweenthe occupation-based unions and the locality unions ，whereas in china the occupation-basedunions only exist in name.[90]there are also plans to create a new union federationto incorporate all of the small unions and organizations of the non-state sector.[91]
if the occupation-based unions are allowed to build up their strength ，theymay be in a better position to negotiate with the state and employers'associationson behalf of workers in their particular industry or profession.with time the occupation-basedunion structure might replace the previous enterprise-based union structure whereunion strength was fragmented and absorbed by the management，the party，and government.as yet there are no signs of this happening in china.[92]
in china，by contrast，people working in the same profession have not beenallowed to form any kind of organization.for example ，when taxi drivers in thesouthern cities of shenzhen （1994），guangzhou（1995）and zhuhai （1996）tookto the streets and agitated to set up their own unions，the local authorities resisted.in zhuhai several of the strike leaders were arrested and sentenced to prison.[93]when a group of migrant workers wrote a letter to the guangdong provincial generaltrade union asking for its support for them to set up a ？migrant workers'tradeunion ì，the union's reply in the local newspaper was that to set up such a unionwould contravene the trade union law.it advised that the workers could establisha union within the workplace，but not under the name of a？migrant workers'unionì。[94]any workers who dare to set up any organizations that smack of autonomousproto-trade unions are likely to be arrested and charged with sedition.[95]noris there any sign within the acftu structure of industrial unions'gaining any strength.overarching general unions based on locality under the rein of local communist partycommittees continue to dominate the structure.
the growing divergence in the development of the unions in the two countriesis seen ，too，in the vgcl's gradual integration into the international labourmovement.within the vgcl ，the vietnamese industrial unions began to join theinternational union federations once their right to do so was guaranteed by thetrade union law.[96]once the party allowed the vgcl more autonomy，moreover ，the latter actively sought technical and financial assistance from unions aroundthe world.for example，in the late 1980s the vgcl sought contact with the australiancouncil of trade unions ，which then sent a delegation to vietnam in 1990.sincethen various australian trade unions have built up ties with the vgcl that go beyondthe formalistic ？friendshipìlevel.the vietnamese communist party and the vgclhave no qualms either in sending staff to italy and denmark for training in whatthe chinese would call？bourgeois ìtrade-union organizational techniques.thiskind of receptivity to foreign penetration is unimaginable in china today （eventhough the government is keen to expand china's penetration by foreign capital andby foreign business-management schools）。the acftu's isolation has been aggravatedby the tiananmen events of 1989.international union sympathy and financial supporthas gone in exile to han dongfang ，who headed the beijing autonomous worker'sfederation during the 1989movement.at the yearly international labor organization（ilo ）convention in geneva ，acftu delegates are put on the defensive when handongfang takes to the floor.the acftu is losing out on exposure to internationallabour issues and assistance，which is precisely what is becoming quite usefulin helping to build up the vgcl.
greater union autonomy from the vietnamese communist party is reflected in vietnamesemedia reports that show the vgcl holding different positions from the government：for example，？the vgcl is negotiating to put pressure on the government andon joint ventures with foreign investment ì；？nguyen van tu ，the vgcl chair ，called the current [minimum wage]rate of us$35unfairì；[97]and the lao dong[labour]newspaper reported that nguyen van tu's demand ？could be rebuffed by thegovernment because of its concern for the country's competitiveness ì。[98]thiskind of reporting is tantamount to admitting that the state's interest does notcoincide with workers'interests，and that these might even sometimes be in conflict.in china the acftu similarly wrestled with the government over workers'wages ，arguing for wage indexation at a time of rapid inflation.[99]but these failed attemptswere carried out behind the scenes.deprived of publicity ，the acftu finds itmore difficult to improve its image among workers.it is not without reason thatlao dong is today one of vietnam's most popular newspapers，whereas china's workers'daily is not sold at newstands because few people are interested in buying it.
