U.S. Dept. of State - IIP: The United States and China

Text: S. 2574 Would Ban U.S. Firms From Exploiting Chinese Workers
(Torricelli bill introduced May 17)

Senator Robert Torricelli (Democrat of New Jersey) introduced legislation May 17 that would require American firms doing business in China to promote among their employees and the employees of their suppliers "freedom of association and assembly (including the right to form unions and to bargain collectively); freedom of expression; and freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention."

Titled the "Workers' Rights Principles for United States Businesses in China Act," the bill says that any American company "doing business in the People's Republic of China or Tibet shall, within its facilities and those of its suppliers in the People's Republic of China or Tibet," prohibit the manufacture of goods or products "by bonded labor or forced labor within prison camps or as part of reform-through-labor or reeducation-through-labor programs."

The legislation states that American firms must pay wages "that meet workers' basic needs and provide fair and decent working hours, including at a minimum, adhering to the wage and hour guidelines under the national labor laws and policies of the People's Republic of China."

An American firm doing business in China would register with the Secretary of State and indicate whether or not it agreed to implement the principles in the bill.

The Secretary of State would then receive annual reports from U.S. companies in China on how they had adhered to the bill's principles.

The Secretary of State would assess how well they had done, and report his-or-her findings to Congress and to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Workers' Rights Principles for
United States Businesses in China Act
(Introduced in the Senate)
S 2574 IS
106th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2574

To provide for principles on workers' rights for United States companies doing business in the People's Republic of China and Tibet.

Mr. TORRICELLI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

To provide for principles on workers' rights for United States companies doing business in the People's Republic of China and Tibet.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

This Act may be cited as the `Workers' Rights Principles for United States Businesses in China Act'.

(a) PURPOSE- It is the purpose of this Act to establish principles on workers' rights for United States companies that do business in the People's Republic of China and in Tibet.

(b) PRINCIPLES- It is the sense of Congress that any United States company doing business in the People's Republic of China or Tibet shall, within its facilities and those of its suppliers in the People's Republic of China or Tibet, do the following:

(1) Prohibit the manufacture of goods or products by bonded labor or forced labor within prison camps or as part of reform-through-labor or reeducation-through-labor programs.

(2) Provide wages that meet workers' basic needs and provide fair and decent working hours, including at a minimum, adhering to the wage and hour guidelines under the national labor laws and policies of the People's Republic of China.

(3) Use production methods that do not negatively affect the occupational safety and health of workers.

(4) Prohibit the use of corporal punishment, as well as any physical, sexual, or verbal abuse or harassment, of workers.

(5) Refrain from seeking police or military intervention to prevent workers from exercising their rights.

(6) Promote the following freedoms among their employees and the employees of their suppliers: freedom of association and assembly (including the right to form unions and to bargain collectively); freedom of expression; and freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention.

(7) Prohibit discrimination in hiring, remuneration, or promotion based on age, gender, marital status, pregnancy, ethnicity, or region of origin.

(8) Prohibit discrimination in hiring, remuneration, or promotion based on labor, political, or religious activity, on involvement in demonstrations, past records of arrests or internal exile for peaceful protest, or on membership in organizations committed to nonviolent social or political change.

(9) Use environmentally responsible methods of production that have minimal adverse impact on land, air, and water quality.

(10) Prohibit child labor, including at a minimum, complying with guidelines on minimum age for employment under the national labor laws of the People's Republic of China.

(c) PROMOTION OF PRINCIPLES BY OTHER NATIONS- The Secretary of State shall forward a copy of the principles set forth in subsection (b) to each member nation of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and encourage such nation to promote principles similar to such principles.

(1) IN GENERAL- Each United States company conducting business in the People's Republic of China or Tibet shall register with the Secretary of State and indicate whether such company agrees to implement the principles set forth in section 2(b).

(2) PROHIBITION ON FEE- No fee shall be required for purposes of registration under paragraph (1).

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE- Subsection (a) shall take effect 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

(1) IN GENERAL- Each United States company conducting business in the People's Republic of China or Tibet shall submit to the Secretary of State a report describing such company's adherence to the principles set forth in section 2(b) during the one-year period ending on the date of such report.

(3) SUBMITTAL DATES- A United States company shall submit the report required by paragraph (1) not later than one year after the date on which the company registers under section 3 and annually thereafter.

(1) IN GENERAL- The Secretary shall review each report submitted under subsection (a) to determine whether the United States company submitting such report is adhering to the principles set forth in section 2(b).

(2) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION- The Secretary may request additional information from a United States company for purposes of the review of its report under this subsection, and may use other sources of information to verify the information contained in such report.

(c) ANNUAL REPORT- Not later than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress and to the Secretariat of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development a report assessing the adherence of United States companies subject to the reporting requirement in subsection (a) to the principles set forth in section 2(b). Each report shall cover the one-year period ending on the date of such report.

(a) SUPPORT- A department or agency of the United States Government may intercede with a foreign government or foreign national regarding export marketing activity in the People's Republic of China or Tibet on behalf of a United States company subject to the reporting requirement in section 4(a) only if the United States company adheres to the principles set forth in section 2(b).

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE- Subsection (a) shall take effect two years after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 6. ANNUAL PUBLIC HEARING ON ADHERENCE OF UNITED STATES COMPANIES TO PRINCIPLES.

(a) IN GENERAL- Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State shall conduct a public hearing on the adherence of United States companies doing business in the People's Republic of China or Tibet to the principles set forth in section 2(b).

(b) HEARING REQUIREMENTS- The Secretary shall conduct each hearing under subsection (a) in an appropriate forum and in a manner intended to facilitate widespread public participation in the hearing.

(1) ADHERE- The terms `adhere to', `adhering to', and `adherence to', in the case of the principles set forth in section 2(b), mean--

(B) implementing the principles by taking good faith measures with respect to each principle; and

(A) IN GENERAL- The term `intercede with a foreign government or foreign national' includes any contact by an officer or employee of the United States with officials of any foreign government or foreign national involving or contemplating any effort to assist in selling a good, service, or technology in the People's Republic of China or Tibet.

(B) EXCLUSION- The term does not include multilateral or bilateral government-to-government trade negotiations intended to resolve trade issues which may affect United States parent companies which do not adhere to the principles set forth in section 2(b).

(3) ORGANIZED UNDER THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES- The term `organized under the laws of the United States' means organized under the laws of the United States, any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or any other territory or possession of the United States.

(4) UNITED STATES COMPANY- The term `United States company' means a corporation, partnership, or other business association organized under the laws of the United States.

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)