A KFC outlet in central China's Hubei Province has had two trade
unions since May this year and the argument is intensifying over
which one deserves to stay.
A group of mostly part-time employees of the KFC outlet in
Shiyan City clubbed together to set up a trade union on May 24 this
year. The city trade union federation adopted it as one of its
members.
On the same day, the provincial head office of Yum Brands Inc,
owner of KFC and Pizza Hut, announced the establishment of its
provincial trade union, meaning that every KFC outlet in Hubei
automatically had a trade union branch.
In the Shiyan outlet, the manager was named as the trade union
leader and the union only accepted full-time employees, according
to a report by the China Youth Daily.
"The situation has reached a deadlock," said Wang Yanli,
vice-president of the Federation of Trade Unions in Shiyan in a
phone interview on Monday.
"Based on its nature, a trade union should be set up by
employees instead of employers. So we can tell which one is
lawful," Wang said.
"As far as I know, the trade union founded by the company has
not recruited any members. All it has is a document from its head
office," he said.
"The employee's trade union is currently made up of 24 members,"
he said.
The city's trade union federation began arguing with KFC about
the need to set up a trade union last year.
The fast-food giant insisted that it had to wait for the
founding of a provincial trade union and then it would set up
unions for its two outlets in Shiyan.
According to Wang, after several months' delay from the company,
the federation moved to talk with employees directly and helped
those from one of the two outlets to set up a trade union.
The company then came to the federation and questioned the
validity of some of the union's members who were student
workers.
China's relevant regulations say that farmers, soldiers and
students are not allowed to join trade unions.
"They joined the trade union not as students but employees. They
work and receive pay so they should enjoy the rights of a worker,"
said Li Fuxiu, another vice-President of the federation.
Any company hiring more than 25 employees must have its own
trade union, according to the Chinese laws.
The fast-food giants KFC and McDonalds came under pressure early
this year following reports which said they underpaid part-time
employees in Guangzhou by up to 40 percent below the local minimum
wage of 1 U.S. dollar an hour.
Yum Brands Inc then issued a statement saying that it allowed
most of its subsidiaries to join the All-China Federation of Trade
Unions (ACFTU) and those left would handle the issue according to
Chinese regulations.
(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2007)
