By Ray Familathe,
International Affairs Director

My recent nine-day trip to China over the July 4th holiday, where I represented the ILWU, was an experience that I will not soon forget. Visiting China is an incredible experience that will test your knowledge of history and open your eyes to a population of 1.3 billion people which fuels this 21st century economic engine and makes China such a global economic force.

I joined a thirteen-member delegation organized by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, led by Maria Elena Durazo, head of the L.A. Fed. We visited China to establish formal relations with the Shanghai Municipal Trade Union Council.

 Our group felt it is important for trade unions from different countries to have closer relationships—especially between China and the United States, because so much of our manufacturing has moved to China in search of low cost labor. Of course, the ILWU has a long tradition of building relationships with other unions around the world, but this is still a new approach for many unions, including some of the union brothers and sisters on our delegation.

Our delegates included Maria Elena Durazo (Secretary Treasurer, LA County Federation of Labor), Ray Familathe (International Affairs Director, ILWU) David Arian (ILWU Local 13), Kent Wong (UCLA Labor Center), Martin Hittelman (President, California Federation of Teachers), Sandra Lepore (American Federation of Teachers Local 1521-A), Annelle Grajeda (General Manager, SEIU Local 721), Marvin Kropke (General Manager, IBEW Local 11), Brian D’Arcy (General Manger, IBEW Local 18), Cristina Vazquez (Organizer, UNITE HERE), Adrian Vasquez (Organizer, IBT), Don Attore (Union Consultant), and Stephen Kaufman (Labor Attorney).

We started our tour in Beijing with a visit to Tian’an men Square where we saw the huge picture of Chairman Mao. We reflected on Chinese history, including the Communist Party which came to power in 1949. Our guide did not discuss the freedom movement gatherings and army attack that took place at the square, but all of us thought about what happened in that place on June 5, 1989. Looking around the rest of Beijing, you can see the new China with office towers and construction taking place everywhere.

The next day we met with the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) at their national headquarters in Beijing. We received a briefing by their Organizing Director, Mr.Guo, who overwhelmed our delegation with information about the trade union federation.

They have a total membership of 169 million members, and hope to have 200 million at the next ACFTU congress. Mr. Guo said that the new market economy and labor law changes are more favorable to organize workers into unions. He noted that all Wal-Mart retail store workers are now in unions throughout China, along with workers at 400 McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants. We told the ACFTU that Wal-Mart was extremely anti-union in America.

One of the many challenges for the ACFTU is the mass migration of rural workers from the countryside. Last year, 120 million new workers came to cities searching for work, and 43 million of them are now in unions; most in factories and the construction trades.

Our LA County Fed delegation could not comprehend on how the ACFTU was able to organize these huge numbers of workers, including many at anti-union American companies. Mr.Guo indicated that major labor law reform had recently granted workers more rights under Chinese law and there was support from China’s government. But it is also true that the Chinese Communist Party and military leaders exercise strong control over business and trade unions, so it is hard to compare our countries in the same way on this score.

On July 3rd our delegation visited the Beiren Machine Factory, a joint venture between China and the Fuji Corporation from Japan which manufactures high quality printing presses. We had a brief tour of the factory but were not able to speak directly to the workers, and were surprised when the manager lectured us at length while the union official sat silently. This incident was noted by Los Angeles Times reporter Mitchell Landsberg who joined us on this part of our visit. His article about our trip appeared on the front page of the business section on July 4th.

Before departing Beijing on July 3rd, David Arian and I were able to meet with Captain Wu, who is President of the National Committee of Chinese Seamen & Construction Workers Union. Captain Wu was very well informed about the global maritime industry. Before our official meeting started, Captain Wu asked us, “what is going on in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach with ILWU Locals 13 and 63?” We both looked at each other and laughed knowing Captain Wu was aware of the pending ILWU Local 63 OCU office workers contract negotiations that could result in a possible labor dispute at the Ports of Los Angeles & Long Beach. Captain Wu then showed us his recent copies of the ILWU Dispatcher, and explained that he is a regular reader of our union paper and other news from the U.S.

On July 4th we traveled to Shanghai, which was one of the most incredible modern cities that I have seen anywhere in the world. We were met there by Zhang Guo Feng of the International Department of the Shanghai Municipal Trade Union Council. Their Council represents 6 million workers in Shanghai, a city of over 20 million.

We had a very positive meeting with the Council. Maria Elena Durazo and Chen Hao, President of the Shanghai Municipal Trade Union Council, agreed to establish sister-city relations between the two labor councils and exchange delegations each year between LA and Shanghai during spring of 2008. This represents the first such relationship between Chinese and U.S. unions.

Finally on July 6th we visited the Yangshan Deep Water Port of Shanghai which is located 18 miles offshore, connected to the mainland by an immense superhighway over shallow waters that took us 2 hours to reach by bus from downtown Shanghai. David Arian and I thought the Shanghai Shengdong International Terminal (SSIT) was like Disneyland on the docks.

This single terminal had 34 hammerhead cranes, 120 transtainers, 16 top-picks, 5 reach stackers and 220 UTR’s. Using twin spreaders on the hammerhead cranes, our host Captian Wang informed us that they just set a new record of moving 96 forty-foot containers in a single hour, requiring 48 moves for the crane operator.

The SSIT terminal was completed in 2005 and is now in phase 2 of 5; when finished it will have 80 hammerhead cranes. Captian Wang told us about other huge construction projects underway throughout China to cope with their huge growth of exports.

Both the AFCTU in Beijing and the Shanghai Municipal Trade Union Council extended invitations to ILWU President Robert McEllrath and our International officers to visit China in the near future. I look forward to continuing our exchange between union members in China and the United States. It seems especially important for us to build good relations between the ILWU and the Shanghai dockworkers union.

 I also hope we can encourage worker-to-worker relationships so that rank-and-file members from unions in both nations can have a chance to meet and learn more about our common concerns and challenges.