Contemporary Chinese Enterprise Law And Economics Analysis Of Trade Unions To Protect Labor Rights

The labor rights are important human rights. The enjoyment and achievement oflabor rights is directly related to the fundamental interests of the workers. Strong andcomprehensive protection of labor rights is related to the stable and healthydevelopment of the whole society. However, the situations that labor rights didn’t getprotection and even been seriously infringed still exist in China.Our contemporary enterprise trade unions as primary trade unions are the mostimportant and powerful organization for protecting the labor rights of workers. Afterthe reform and opening up, China has gradually establishing a socialist marketeconomic system and the non-public enterprises have mushroomed graduallyincreased in large numbers which lead labor-management conflicts are increasing, sothe protection function of trade unions are more outstanding. However, during thistransition period, there still are a lot of defects and shortcomings for enterprise unionsin protection of labor rights of workers, such as the trade union’s status are difficult tokeep independent to the superior trade unions and corporate employers so that itbecomes substantial "government-run unions” and not really represent the workerswithin the enterprise to safeguard their rights, and their legal status is not like unionsat or above the county level as automatically been obtained so that it cannot fullexercise its protection functions. Therefore, looking at the defects and shortcomingsof the system of contemporary Chinese enterprise unions in the protection of laborrights, mining the reasons of causing these defects and shortcomings, and proposedsuggestions to eliminate or reduce these defects and shortcomings are the ideas andpurpose of the writing of this paper.This paper is divided into eight chapters, and mainly includes five parts.The first part (Chapter1) proves why trade union protects the labor rights. As thebasis of the study, the author firstly analyzed why trade unions rather than otherindividual or organization protect labor rights, that is to say, the existing reason andscale of trade unions from the point of view of law and economics. On this basis, theauthor further analysis externality of trade unions’ protection on labor rights, role andlegal person status of trade unions, to eliminate the obstacle of labor rights protectionfor trade union. The second part is Chapter II to Chapter VI. The author respectively made lawand economic analysis on four sub labor rights including the unity right, collectivebargaining right, collective action rights (the right to strike) and labor participationright.In the Chapter II, the author use the analytical tools of law and economics toanalyses on the unity right which is one of labor rights (including the right to organizeand the right to join trade unions), and provide proposals on how to reduce and avoidthe phenomenon of the "free-rider" on non-union members, but also establish multipleunions in the same enterprise to make competition in order to achieve the right to jointrade unions pluralistic.Chapter III is law and economic analysis on collective bargaining right.Collective bargaining is the most important means of enterprise unions to achieve theprotection function on labor rights of workers, and the cost-benefit analysis onnegotiating and game theory can provide the action basis for collective bargaining andminimum wage related to collective bargaining is not conducive to the improvementof social welfare from the perspective of Welfare Economics. The ultimate purpose ofcollective bargaining from the point of view of contract economics should be reachinga complete contract.Chapter IV is law and economic analysis on collective action rights (the right tostrike).The giving of the right to strike can provide effective protection for theprotection of labor rights for trade unions and strike threat can strengthen thebargaining power of trade unions. The author provided legislative proposals onconfirming economic strike and limiting political strike and give the union right tolead strike.Chapter V is the analysis on labor participation rights.Safeguard workers’ laborparticipation rights and achieve the workers to involve in the democratic managementof the enterprise is reflection of the labor force as a human capital, but we need toavoid adverse selection and moral hazard caused by asymmetric information, and thegame with enterprise through the whole worker’s meeting or workers’ congresses andemployee directors and employee supervisors are a part of safeguard workers’participation rights by trade unions.The third part (Chapter VI) is law and economic analysis on configuration oflabor unions resource related to protect the strength of trade unions to protect labor right. To protect the strength of trade unions to protect labor rights, configuration oflabor unions resource is very important. It needs not only guarding against adverseselection and moral hazard problems of the chairman of the labor union and tradeunion staff, but also grant trade unions independent property rights. In addition, theauthor also proposes new ideas on the use of taxation and subsidies means to solve theproblem of trade union funds.The fourth part (Chapter VII) discusses the relief of trade union on labor rightsand relief of members on violations of their labor rights by trade union. Among reliefmethods of trade unions on labor rights, labor relations veto mechanism and labordispute settlement mechanism cannot be lack, and the acts of ineffective, omissionsand even violations of labor rights should be punished through legislation and thepricing mechanism of damages.The fifth part (the last part, Chapter VIII) is the conclusion of this paper. Theauthor suggests that the future of the labor rights protection should be cooperation,harmony and win-win. Labor-management cooperation, maximization, balance andefficiency are closely linked, and labor-management cooperation, win-win andbuilding harmonious labor relations are an organic whole. Enterprise unions play anindispensable role in achieving labor-management win-win.In this paper, the research methods the author mainly uses include economicsanalysis method, empirical research method, standardized research method andcomparative research method. Economics analysis method is the most importantresearch method in this paper. This paper uses the analysis tools of the Law andEconomics theory including the maximization, balance, cost-benefit analysis,transaction costs, the game theory analysis tools to analyze the grounds and scale oftrade unions, exercising of collective bargaining rights and selection rights of workersto join trade unions. Empirical research methods mainly refer to literature. Referenceddata in this paper depends on the data and the literature published by the relevantagencies. Standardized research method of this paper is to study value judgments andranking of fairness, justice, freedom, efficiency which involved in all aspects of laws,regulations and related regimes on the protection of labor rights of trade unions, suchas the freedom whether workers have rights to choose to join a union or not, andprotecting labor rights for trade unions should not only be fair and just, butalso should achieve efficiency, to examine the value reasonability of the regime of trade unions to protect labor rights and proposed legislative recommendations forimprovement. Finally, the author use the comparative research method to comparerelevant situation between Chinese trade unions and foreign trade unions, and alsobetween Chinese trade union law and foreign trade union laws, especially in the studyof several trade unions exist at the same time in one Japanese enterprise.The innovation of this paper may be: Firstly, the point of view of innovation. Theauthor believes that the ideal state of the trade unions on labor rights protection toachieve is a "win-win" in the interests of workers and enterprise interests. Only thedevelopment of enterprises can give workers’ interests better protection. This is theend-result of this paper. Secondly, innovative demonstration methods. This papermainly explores labor rights legal system settings in the macro level(the level ofnational laws) and setting of trade unions within the enterprise in micro level, andreduce transaction costs, and maximize the interests of both enterprises and workerson the basis of fairness to ensure the interests of the workers, and achieve a balance ofinterests of both parties through analysis method of the law and economics, mainlyincluding cost-benefit analysis, maximization, balance and game theory. Thirdly,innovative proposals in practical aspects. The author provides certain systemsuggestions on how to improve trade union system in order to better protect the laborrights by law and economics analysis, such as automatically obtaining mechanism oflegal status for trade unions, allowing multiple unions exist in the same enterprise inorder to achieve competition, and get rid of dependence on enterprises throughtaxation and subsidies and so on.This study of this paper starts from the establishment basis and origin of tradeunions and ended at win-win for the worker and enterprise as a result through theanalysis of Law and Economics Perspective such as maximization, balanced,cost-benefit analysis, game analysis, and aimed at exploring how to better play its duerole for trade unions in the protection of labor rights and provide theoretical supportand practical advices to improve the functions of trade unions in China.