China: Industrial relations

Original and updating author: Huimin (Laura) Wang, Squire Patton Boggs

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Summary

• Legislation states that all workers who rely on wages or salaries as their main source of income have the right to organise or join trade unions. (See Trade unions).
• Statute provides that collective agreements may be concluded. (See Collective bargaining and agreements)
• Trade unions, where present, have a number of information, consultation and involvement rights at enterprise level. (See Informing and consulting employees - general)
• When making collective redundancies in the circumstances permitted by law, the employer must explain the situation to the trade union, if one is present, and/or to all its employees, and seek their views, 30 days in advance of making the redundancies. (See Informing and consulting prior to redundancies)
• There are no specific statutory requirements for the old employer or the new employer to inform and consult employees or trade unions about business transfers. (See Informing and consulting prior to transfers)
• Statute does not currently provide for a right to strike or prohibit strikes. (See Strikes)
• A company in which two or more state-owned enterprises or state-owned investment bodies have invested must include an unspecified number of employee representatives on the board of directors. (See Board-level employee representation)