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More multinationals have broken ranks with their industry associations
by backing Chinese labour law reforms largely opposed by the
associations.
Several companies, including Ericsson, General Electric and Procter & Gamble, distanced themselves last month from the positions taken by the American Chamber of Commerce, the European Chamber of Commerce and the US-China Business Council, whose views of Chinese government plans for progressive labour standard reforms have been generally negative.
The companies’ statements follow the lead of Nike, which publicly criticized the US chamber’s views on the law reforms amid suggestions that industry associations are becoming out of step with their members on corporate responsibility issues (EP8, issue 9, p3).
Ericsson said it ‘supports the Chinese government’s legislative efforts’ and is ‘in no way actively lobbying against the proposed legislation’. It added that ‘just because we are a member of the European Chamber of Commerce does not necessarily mean we endorse every lobbying initiative.’ Chinese employees would ‘benefit considerably if current legislation were more actively enforced’, it said.
General Electric said it broadly supported the Chinese proposals and pointed out that it had made its own comments on the draft law ‘in a constructive and supportive manner’. Procter & Gamble endorsed ‘most’ parts of the draft law, and Peugeot Citroën said it was ‘unequivocally in favour’ but would seek some technical amendments.
The companies have posted their views at the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, an online facility supported by Amnesty International and several academic bodies. The site’s administrators have invited companies to submit statements on the issue.
Not all companies have followed Nike. AT&T, Carrefour, DuPont, Maersk, Microsoft, Total, UPS and Wal-Mart are among those to have declined to give a response. Walt Disney and Google have both posted statements that are essentially non-committal.
Several companies, including Ericsson, General Electric and Procter & Gamble, distanced themselves last month from the positions taken by the American Chamber of Commerce, the European Chamber of Commerce and the US-China Business Council, whose views of Chinese government plans for progressive labour standard reforms have been generally negative.
The companies’ statements follow the lead of Nike, which publicly criticized the US chamber’s views on the law reforms amid suggestions that industry associations are becoming out of step with their members on corporate responsibility issues (EP8, issue 9, p3).
Ericsson said it ‘supports the Chinese government’s legislative efforts’ and is ‘in no way actively lobbying against the proposed legislation’. It added that ‘just because we are a member of the European Chamber of Commerce does not necessarily mean we endorse every lobbying initiative.’ Chinese employees would ‘benefit considerably if current legislation were more actively enforced’, it said.
General Electric said it broadly supported the Chinese proposals and pointed out that it had made its own comments on the draft law ‘in a constructive and supportive manner’. Procter & Gamble endorsed ‘most’ parts of the draft law, and Peugeot Citroën said it was ‘unequivocally in favour’ but would seek some technical amendments.
The companies have posted their views at the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, an online facility supported by Amnesty International and several academic bodies. The site’s administrators have invited companies to submit statements on the issue.
Not all companies have followed Nike. AT&T, Carrefour, DuPont, Maersk, Microsoft, Total, UPS and Wal-Mart are among those to have declined to give a response. Walt Disney and Google have both posted statements that are essentially non-committal.
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