One episode that summed up the union leadership for Chan came after SACOM organized a campaign last April against what it says were sweatshop conditions at Chinese-owned multinational Nine Dragons Paper. SACOM were surprised and pleased to receive a call the following month from the Guangdong Provincial Committee of ACFTU, inviting them to a meeting. "Their attitude was, on the one hand, quite open," said Chan, "debating with a Hong Kong student group about what we meant by a Chinese sweatshop. But they quickly concluded that it was wrong to characterize such a big, developed enterprise as a sweatshop, criticized our report as biased and said we should present it in a more balanced way."

"In fact, they should be glad civil society groups are carrying out this work. Otherwise workers might take radical actions and disrupt social stability," said Chan, pointing to a recent incident in Shenzhen when a group of laid off workers locked factory gates and cut off power to the shop floor.

One problem, says Chan, is that union leaders follow the twists and turns of government policy. At first enthusiastic about the new labor law, after the government called for a relaxed enforcement of its provisions to ease pressure on companies hit by the financial crisis, the unions quickly fell in line. Union leaders are shaky and unstable allies, she concludes.

But Chan has nothing but praise for the young mainland students who carry out SACOM's grassroots research. "This young group of students is so energetic, creative and well organized. They go into the factories in the summer and really experience the condition of the workers on the shop floor. I have high hopes for them and their concerns are for a more open, democratic, fair, sustainable China, and I really share their vision."

(China.org.cn by John Sexton, May 4, 2009)