The dilemma of collective bargaining on low wages and disturbing wages of supermarket employees

Shanghai Carrefour staff wages almost in place 12 years, and the same period of price rose 3 times times more Interns Chen Zhu our correspondent Kai since 1998, Shanghai Carrefour almost did not give workers raise wages. According to the Labor daily, January 19, from the 1075.77 Yuan in 1998, to 2010 of 1124.8 Yuan, Shanghai Carrefour front-line workers actually earn almost "in situ", and in this time period, Shanghai's GDP and prices have risen 3 times times more.　　On the other hand, in order to avoid the risk of the law, in calculating the wages of workers, Shanghai Carrefour even installed a computer program, if the wages of workers do not reach the local minimum wage, the computer automatically uses the minimum wage. Once the message was issued, it immediately aroused hot debate: how to solve the problem of the minimum wage as a standard wage?　　How to break through the repeated failure of the collective bargaining system of wages? Most supermarkets use the minimum wage as a standard wage recently, China Youth Daily Reporter in Shanghai Carrefour, a store interview, found in the store, almost all wearing red or blue and other manufacturers special clothes staff. According to the store staff, the staff wearing such clothing is not Carrefour's own employees, but the manufacturer sent the promoter.　　"These people's employment contracts are signed with suppliers, not with Carrefour," one employee said. According to a security guard of the store, as security, he is the official Carrefour staff, basic salary 1200 yuan, after deducting four gold fees, only 1100 yuan. He has been in the store for more than a year, heard that this April may be a raise in wages, so as other employees, still waiting, "the security also has temporary workers, there are many college students to do part-time, Carrefour own staff very few." "In large supermarket chains, low wages, not only the Carrefour, China Youth Daily Reporter in the lotus, Wal-Mart and other foreign large supermarkets interviewed, but also learned that these supermarket employees and Carrefour similar wages, hand income in the 1100~1200 yuan, and Shanghai stipulated the minimum wage standard line.　　A large number of recruiting interns, less contract workers, more labor, but also the general situation of such supermarkets. "Labor, temporary workers often work overtime, but no overtime pay, bonuses and various benefits, only to get the minimum wage." "I have worked for 3 years and my wages have been swaying on the minimum wage line," said one of the Lotus's store labor workers.　　In the state-owned Hualian, employees reflect that the wage level is about 150 higher than that of Carrefour, the work is more stable and the flow is not large. The Carrefour event also became a hot topic during the recent Shanghai session. The minimum wage line into the wage negotiation standard line, the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, the Shanghai Chemical Trade union President Huang Dai column of criticism. In his view, the government should come up with a broader average wage line every year, and it should be disposable wages for employees, not pre-tax wages. Employees should take the industry in Shanghai's average wage line for the standard line, combined with the benefits of enterprises, and enterprises to negotiate, such a negotiated result is the mostScientific.　　But the fact also proves that the low wages make Shanghai Carrefour's store appeared "labor shortage", each store staff is short of urgency. Wage collective bargaining "low-altitude flight" dilemma "many enterprises take the minimum wage as the standard line of wage negotiation, bare the plight of our collective bargaining of wages." "Long-term study of labor law Baohua Senior experts, Zhoukai, a lawyer at Shanghai Hui industry law firm, said in an interview with the Chinese youth Daily that" the minimum wage is the bottom line that must be observed by both sides of the law, with the characteristics of public laws and compulsory enforcement, which is not to be crossed by both employers and employees. " As a collective bargaining and collective contract with private law characteristics, the executive power is relatively weak, if the minimum wage line is still regarded as the standard of negotiation, it is obviously self-deception and unreasonable. "According to Zhoukai years of research and observation, the majority of China's wage collective bargaining is basically based on the National Labor standards," the simple repetition of legal provisions, seems to be helpless. "Why is this happening?" Zhoukai that the direct reason is that our employment system and wage system is too rigid. In recent years, because of the country's continuous strengthening of the labor contract system and wage distribution reform, so that enterprise employment flexibility was greatly reduced. Many companies are lamenting the employment "forced" (such as forced to sign without fixed-term contract, strict statutory dismissal system), wages "was increased" (minimum wage, social leveling wage increase).　　At the same time, many enterprises pay a dominant wage and implicit wage division, there are explicit benefits and implicit benefits of the difference. "The reason why the performance of the dominant, mainly for the sake of the legislative norms, to deal with the government regulation, the reason for the hidden, the purpose is to expand the autonomy of enterprise management, increase enterprise employment flexibility." But the difficulty of collective bargaining is precisely how the rigid salary part rises, or how to increase the explicit salary, and reduce the recessive salary. Zhoukai said that under this kind of negotiation deadlock, the Union party often reduces the consultation standard in order to complete the collective contract signing rate index, but the enterprise in order to hold the employment elasticity the plots will be flattering. In the end, the employers and employees reached a "low flying" tacit understanding of the wage negotiation standard.　　In fact, this phenomenon is also reflected in the terms of the labor contract. Zhoukai that the root cause is that China's labor relations are still too much in the state of individual labor relations, the individual laborer's ability to negotiate and negotiate is often negligible. "The laborer's individual behavior only gathers into the rolling torrent, for instance the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta's laborer shortage, only then can really to the enterprise have the touch, even is the restriction." "Collective bargaining system is not a panacea, to change the status quo need to three-pronged trust in collective bargaining through wages, can improve their treatment?"　　When the Chinese youth Daily reporter asked several supermarket employees, they all shook their heads. According to the 12th of the Shanghai Collective Contract Ordinance, which was officially implemented January 1, 2008, "The Enterprise shall formulate, modify or decide the following regulations or major matters directly related to the immediate interests of the employees".shall be determined after collective consultation with the employee of the Enterprise: (i) Labour remuneration, (ii) Working hours, (iii) Rest and leave; (iv) Safety and health of workers, (v) Insurance benefits, (vi) Staff training, (vii) Labour discipline, (eight) labor quotas, (ix) other content prescribed by laws and regulations.　　"The Shanghai Workers ' Congress, which will be implemented on May 1, 2011, will also stipulate collective bargaining as the ex officio of the trade union."　　However, in 2008, Carrefour's trade unions began negotiating collective bargaining with management, and in the first three consultations, French bosses had been obsessed with the legality of the "collective bargaining system"; At the last consultation, the mayor of Carrefour, Shanghai, got up and left the trade unionists "dry" on one side, and negotiations went nowhere.　　At present, collective bargaining is an important part of the wage-determining mechanism and cannot be expected to be a panacea for the current wage allocation problem, Zhoukai. Zhoukai that if this situation is to be changed, it must be "three-pronged" from the three institutional levels of labor standards, collective contracts and labor contracts. In the case of collective bargaining alone, it should be constructed according to the "Tripartite principle". First, the Government should, in the formulation and implementation of the minimum wage, such as the "Bottom line standard" system, based on improve the collective bargaining system, do a good job of "referee"; Secondly, the trade unions should adjust their work focus to the "Representative function", collect all kinds of salary consultation information, improve the negotiation skills, and do the work of "athlete"; again,　　On the basis of fully implementing the National labor Law, the enterprise should pay attention to the challenges brought by the collective Labor Relations, study the procedure, method and skill of the collective bargaining of wages, and strive for the common development of enterprises and laborers.　　The legislation of collective bargaining of wages sparked controversy during the two sessions of the Shanghai NPC and CPPCC, the representative of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress Tang that the collective bargaining of wages is a systematic project, which needs to establish the legal status of collective bargaining by legislation and set up a mechanism for collective bargaining of wages. In fact, the legislation on wage negotiation has been put forward several times.　　January 21, Shanghai Municipal party committee deputy secretary, mayor Han Zheng at the Shanghai Municipal People's Government press conference on the proposal, to promote enterprises to establish a sound collective bargaining mechanism for wages, Shanghai this year will have institutional arrangements to effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of workers.　　Such problems are not a concern in Shanghai, January 16, at the press conference of Beijing CPPCC, Beijing CPPCC Committee members, deputy director of the Municipal Political Consultative Committee on Social and Legal Affairs, and the former vice chairman of the Municipal Federation of Trade Unions, Hou Xiaoli the proposal, as soon as possible in the form of local laws and regulations on corporate wages collective bargaining legislation to solve this problem. January 25, "Beijing Municipal General Union 12 session of the six members (enlarged) meeting", the Beijing Municipal Federation of Trade Unions also announced that the government will carry out wage collective consultation legislation research.　　Once legislative research is initiated, wage collective bargaining is expected to be incorporated into the law, when workers ' wages are no longer in the boss's head, and all businesses will negotiate wages collectively. In Zhoukai's view, collective bargainingIt is an indisputable fact that it is the legal authority of a trade union.　　What needs to be discussed is how the trade unions go about collective bargaining and how the collective bargaining effect can be implemented. Yang Baochen, chairman of the Long March town, Putuo District, Shanghai, said: Shanghai can draw on the legislative experience of foreign provinces and cities, such as Hubei Province, Yunnan province, Zhejiang Province, Fujian province, through local legislation, the enterprise wage Collective consultation made clear provisions, to this work affixed to the "force" label. "If the wage collective bargaining is clearly defined, the government department can hold the owner's legal responsibility to solve the wage bottleneck in labour disputes once a business owner refuses to wage collective bargaining." "Zhoukai does not approve of this statement.　　In his view, if the mandatory means to accelerate the promotion of collective bargaining, the legislation at most the commencement of some important matters of the consultative process of coercion, and must not be able to enforce the results of negotiations, such as corporate layoffs, closures and so on.　　Zhoukai that the experience of the developed market economy countries shows that the key to the success of collective bargaining system is to achieve a certain balance and mutual restraint, that is to say, to push from the bottom up is the fundamental, if trifles, simple legislation to engage in compulsory consultation, will be abandoned by Labor and capital. (Intern Shang contributed to this article)