Nearly 1,200 members of the Shenzhen Trade Union, who were dispatched to assuage aggrieved employees at Foxconn's factory in the city's Longhua district, showed "good progress" after eight days of effort, the Chinese media reported on Monday.
The union members had candid discussions with (Foxconn) employees, coordinated communication with the company management and organized recreational activities, the papers reported.
Remember this: The unit employs 300,000 workers, yet has no trade union.
The news reports certainly reassure readers that something is being done.
It serves to throw up a picture of harmony after a recent spate of 13 suicides claimed the lives of 10 workers in months.
Yet, the union members' show of concern prompted a question: "What did the city's trade union do before or during the period of the attempted suicides, including the time when an employee at the factory took his own life last year after he was beaten up for allegedly stealing an iPhone prototype?"
The second question that came to my mind was: "What role must a trade union play in China?"
My understanding of that responsibility - as the commonsense approach would suggest - is that unions must protect the legitimate rights and interests of employees, especially during conflicts with company managements.
That so many workers committed suicide at the Foxconn unit within a relatively short span of time was bizarre enough; yet no union took concerted action to ascertain its cause or improve the conditions of workers at the factory.
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