Interim Report - Report No 268, November 1989

1. 668. In a communication dated 19 June 1989 the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) presented a complaint alleging the violation of trade union rights in China. The ICFTU sent additional information in support of its complaint in communications dated 22 June and 20 July 1989. The Government sent its observations in a letter dated 28 September 1989.
2. 669. China has ratified neither the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), nor the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. The complainant's allegations

1. 670. In its communication dated 19 June 1989 the ICFTU refers to the mass arrest of activists of the Workers' Autonomous Federation (WAF), an independent trade union movement created in May 1989 in several parts of China. The ICFTU adds that three activists of the Federation have been sentenced to death.
2. 671. In its communication dated 22 June 1989 the ICFTU explains that Chinese workers played an essential role in the democracy movement launched in April 1989 by Beijing students, to whom they brought prompt moral and material support. However, these workers also wanted to organise themselves along democratic trade union lines in order to represent and defend their interests. This led to the founding in the second half of May 1989 of the Beijing Workers' Autonomous Federation, a movement which spread to numerous other cities.
3. 672. The ICFTU attached to its communication a report retracing the events surrounding the founding, development and violent crushing of this Federation by the authorities.
4. 673. According to the ICFTU's report, the first public sign of the creation of the WAF was the erection of tented headquarters in Tiananmen Square around 15-17 May 1989. The workers were in the forefront of a demonstration in Beijing on 17 May 1989 supporting the students' hunger strike. Two days later the workers announced the creation of the Beijing WAF, which claimed to draw its membership from over 40 industrial sectors and to represent over 100,000 workers in Beijing. Among the main grievances voiced by the WAF were the wide discrepancy in working and living conditions between the workers and plant managers, the lack of workplace democracy, the lack of genuine workers' representation, poor working conditions and the deterioration of the workers' living standards.
5. 674. On 28 May 1989, the WAF issued its statutes, the main thrust of which was that the organisation should be autonomous, independent and democratic and that it should serve the principles of representing and defending the workers' interests. The WAF was seeking ways to legalise its organisation within the constitutional order of the People's Republic of China. In particular, it did not at that time demand the restoration of the right to strike, which had been abrogated under amendments to the Constitution in 1982, and it publicly stated that it did not want to oppose the rule of the Chinese Communist Party. According to the report, the WAF's membership included factory workers, office workers, journalists and civil servants. Several hundred workers signed up as members of the WAF and received their membership cards before the attack on Tiananmen Square.
6. 675. According to the ICFTU, many and probably most of the WAF's representatives were killed during the army's attack on the crowd in Tiananmen Square during the night of 3-4 June 1989. The attack was launched from the north-eastern part of the Square, where the WAF's headquarters were located.
7. 676. The arrest of independent trade union activists began before the attack. Bai Dong Ping, a WAF leader, was arrested at the end of May 1989. Although he was released on 1 June, he was rearrested on 20 June and is believed to be held in Szechuan province. The Chinese television station broadcast pictures of prisoners bearing visible signs of violent beatings, one of whom was described as the leader of an illegal workers' organisation.
8. 677. Chinese television reported on the first trial of workers and independent trade unionists on 15 June 1989, when it stated that 26 ruffians had been publicly tried at Changchun in Jilin province and had received "adequate punishment" for having blocked traffic and advocated a strike. On 21 June three workers from Shanghai were executed, after the Higher People's Court had upheld the death sentences passed three days earlier. The workers, Xu Guoming, Xie Hanwu and Yan Xuerong, had been found guilty of setting alight a train which had crashed into a peaceful demonstration at a Shanghai railway station, and of having obstructed the fire-fighters' work. According to the ICFTU, other workers have been executed.
9. 678. In the opinion of the ICFTU, the authorities intended to destroy the WAF. On 8 June they announced that the Federation was a counter-revolutionary organisation and called on the public to denounce its members and leaders, as well as those of the Students' Autonomous Federation. On 12 June China's mass media called on the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (the official union) to mobilise workers to destroy the WAF throughout the country. They also reported that 80 people had been arrested in Beijing because of their involvement in the independent students' and workers' federations.
10. 679. On 14 June the Public Security Bureau again attacked the WAF as an illegal organisation which had instigated and organised counter-revolutionary riots. Three leaders of the WAF were declared to be on the "wanted" list: Liu Qiang, a worker from factory No. 3209; Han Tungfang, a worker from the Fengtai locomotive maintenance section; and Ho Lili, a lecturer at the Workers' University of Beijing. On 15 June Liu Qiang was shown on television being dragged off a train, handcuffed, in Hohhot (Inner Mongolia). The television broadcast said that he had been ambushed by the police acting on denunciations by the public after his photograph had been diffused on television. According to official press reports, over 1,300 activists in the democracy movement, including many workers, had been detained.
11. 680. The ICFTU report states that other workers' autonomous federations have been organised in Shanghai, Xian, Hangzou, Guangzhou, Canton and other cities. Numerous WAF delegations fron Tianjin, Shankxi, Jiangsu and some north-eastern cities were seen at Tiananmen Square rallies.
12. 681. On 7 and 9 June over 1,000 workers marched with banners in support of the WAF in Shanghai. On 10 June another demonstration was held to protest against the arrest of nine leaders of the Shanghai WAF. On 12 June Chinese television broadcast pictures of a badly beaten man presented as a leader of the Shanghai WAF. The ICFTU cites a number of leaders and members of the Shanghai WAF who were arrested: Zhang Qiwang, Chen Shangfu, Wang Miaogen and Wang Hong, accused of spreading rumours, constituting an illegal organisation and incitement to overthrow the Government. Shen Zhigao, a Shanghai toy factory worker who was arrested on 11 June, was charged with spreading counter-revolutionary propaganda, and Li Zhiguo, arrested on 10 June, of having advocated the overthrow of the Government. 682. According to the ICFTU, the official union, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, published a statement on 26 May supporting the students' demonstrations and describing their demands as patriotic. Some staff members of the Federation actually joined the WAF during a demonstration in Tiananmen Square. On 2 June, however, the Beijing Daily published a statement by the Federation which branded the WAF as unlawful and called on the authorities to crush it. On the other hand, it appears that officials of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions were detained because of their support for the democracy movement.
13. 683. The ICFTU concludes that Chinese workers did indeed create organisations of their choosing, as they are entitled to under Article 2 of Convention No. 87, and that by crushing the movement the authorities violated Article 4 of the Convention, as well as other international instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
14. 684. In its communication dated 20 July 1989, the ICFTU states that executions and arrests of workers who took part in the pro-democracy movement continue to be reported from China. On 17 June it was announced that Mr. Li Guiren, in charge of state publishing activities for Shaanxi province, had been arrested for having called on workers to strike in protest at the Beijing massacre.
15. 685. Moreover, several workers had already been arrested in Beijing prior to the 4 June attack. The ICFTU cites the case of Quian Yunin, an activist of the Beijing WAF, who was detained by the Public Security Bureau as he was leaving his place of work on the evening of 29 May, and of Chen Yinshan, one of the WAF's leaders, who was arrested on 30 May or 1 June.

B. The Government's reply

1. 686. In its communication dated 28 September 1989, the Government states that the ICFTU's complaint alleging the violation of Convention No. 87 is completely unfounded and is a case of blatant intervention in the internal affairs of China, which the Government cannot accept.
2. 687. According to the Government, the events that took place in Beijing at the end of spring and the beginning of summer 1989 were politically motivated disturbances fomented by a group of individuals in collusion with certain anti-Chinese foreign forces and organised according to a premeditated plan that took advantage of the wave of student demonstrations. The unrest subsequently degenerated into a rebellion that resorted to violence and terrorist methods. The aim of the rebellion was to overthrow the Government and the socialist regime established by the Constitution.
3. 688. The Government adds that the Workers' Autonomous Federation was one of two groups that organised and participated in the disturbances. The WAF does not represent the working masses and is merely an illegal organisation hastily improvised by a few individuals on behalf of the workers. It incited the population to cease work by going on strike, barricaded roads against the troops sent to apply martial law and engaged in frenzied beating, wrecking, looting, burning and massacring, thereby endangering the safety of the State and the interests of the people. The Government was obliged to take drastic steps to put a stop to the rebellion and to dissolve the WAF in order to defend law and order and preserve the life and property of the population. It was an absolutely legal, legitimate and necessary decision that was taken in the exercise of Chinese sovereignty. According to the Government, no foreign country, international organisation or foreigner whatsover has the right to interfere in this matter.
4. 689. The Government asserts that the Chinese Constitution and legislation guarantee the country's citizens extensive rights, including freedom of association and trade union rights. The Government dissolved the WAF quite simply because it was violating the Constitution and the laws of the country, and this, in the Government's view, has nothing to do with Convention No. 87.
5. 690. The Government adopted a policy giving priority to education for ordinary members of the WAF. Only a handful of criminals, it continues, was or will be punished through the courts of law. The complaint alleging violation of freedom of association is based on prejudice and a refusal to accept the facts. It is therefore quite unjustified in the view of the Government, which considers that the opening of the case by the ILO is untimely.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 691. The Committee notes that, in its reply, the Government raises objections regarding the procedure followed. In the first place, it considers that the matter raised in the complaint constitutes interference in the internal affairs of China and that no international organisation has the right to interfere in this matter. It further considers that the questions raised are of a political nature and have nothing to do with freedom of association. Finally, it states that the opening of the case by the ILO's Committee on Freedom of Association is untimely.
2. 692. With regard to the Government's claim that the complaint constitutes interference in its internal affairs, the Committee must point out that the ILO, by virtue of its Constitution, was established in particular to improve conditions of labour and to promote freedom of association in the various countries. Consequently, as was emphasised by a Commission of Inquiry set up by the Governing Body (see Official Bulletin, Special supplement, Vol. LXVII, 1984, Series B, para. 466), the matters dealt with by the Organisation in this connection no longer fall within the exclusive sphere of States and the action taken by the Organisation for the purpose cannot be considered to be interference in internal affairs, since it falls within the terms of reference that the ILO has received from its Members with a view to attaining the aims assigned to it. In the view of the Committee, the Government's objection therefore lacks any juridical relevance.
3. 693. As to the political nature of the issues raised in the complaint, the Committee recalls that in its First Report it formulated certain principles with respect to the examination of complaints to which the Government concerned ascribes a purely political character. Following the general principle adopted by the Governing Body, the Committee decided that, even though cases may be political in origin or present political aspects, they should nevertheless be examined from the point of view of substance if they raise questions directly affecting the exercise of trade union rights (see 6th Report, Case No. 12 (Argentina), paras. 188-191). Moreover, the Committee considers that the question whether issues raised in a complaint concern penal law or the exercise of trade union rights cannot be decided unilaterally by the Government concerned. It is for the Committee to rule on the matter after examining all the available information.
4. 694. In the present case, the complaint refers to the execution, conviction and arrest of leaders and members of a workers' organisation and to the measures taken against the organisation, all of which can directly affect the exercise of trade union rights.
5. 695. With regard to the statement concerning the untimely nature of the decision to examine this case, the Committee must point out that the complaint presented is perfectly receivable since it was presented by an organisation having consultative status with the ILO. It was therefore transmitted to the Government by the Office in accordance with the established procedure.
6. 696. In the light of the foregoing, the Committee therefore considers, without prejudging its examination of the substance of the case, that it must examine this matter.
7. 697. However, in order to conduct a thorough examination of the case and to reach conclusions in full awareness of the facts, the Committee needs to have the detailed observations of the Government and precise replies to the various allegations formulated by the complainant organisation.
8. 698. In this respect, the Committee would recall that the purpose of the entire procedure is to ensure respect for freedom of association de jure and de facto and that, while this procedure protects governments from unreasonable accusations, the governments themselves should recognise the importance of submitting detailed and factual replies to any accusations that may be made against them. When it responds to a request for observations on a specific complaint, a government does not ipso facto recognise the correctness of the complaint, let alone whether it is well founded, but confines itself to collaborating with the Committee and the Governing Body in order to permit an impartial examination of the question.
9. 699. The Committee must, nevertheless, note that the Government's communication contains only general statements that do not constitute a specific reply to the allegations made. The Committee considers that the gravity of the allegations calls for an urgent examination of the case. It therefore hopes that the Government will rapidly provide its detailed observations on the allegations.
10. 700. The Committee also requests the complainant to provide any further information which it may have available on this case.