ETUC condemns "outrageous" threats by European companies in China
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) today denounced reports that the European Chambers of Commerce in Beijing had said that, if new labour laws were introduced to cut working time and improve pay rates, this would increase Chinese production costs and would “force foreign companies to reconsider new investment or continuing with their activities in China.”
John Monks, ETUC General Secretary, said: “It is outrageous that profit-chasing European companies are threatening to disinvest if very basic standards are introduced in China. Rather than engaging in a race to the bottom they should respect, throughout the world, standards that we expect them to apply at home.”
The issue features in a submission on EU-China relations presented to the European Commission in which the ETUC stresses the need for coherent European policies on trade and the promotion of core labour standards and decent work.
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