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Viewing cable 07CHENGDU35, CHONGQING ATTORNEY'S FIGHT FOR WORKERS' RIGHTS

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07CHENGDU35 2007-02-02 07:34 2011-08-30 01:44 CONFIDENTIAL Consulate Chengdu
VZCZCXRO5914
RR RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHCN #0035/01 0330734
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 020734Z FEB 07
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2378
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 0017
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 2873
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000035 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM 
STATE FOR H/PASS CECC FOR DYSON 
BANGKOK FOR USAID/MSTIEVATER AND SKISSINGER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  2/2/2017 
TAGS: ELAB ECON PGOV PHUM CH
SUBJECT: CHONGQING ATTORNEY'S FIGHT FOR WORKERS' RIGHTS 
 
CHENGDU 00000035  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: James Boughner, Consul General, Chengdu, 
Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  During a recent discussion with us on the 
challenges he faces trying to advocate for the rights of migrant 
workers, former People's Liberation Army soldier and Chongqing 
attorney Zhou Litai stressed that economic and political 
realities are putting the viability of his law firm in doubt. 
Nevertheless, Zhou is trying to expand his practice and hopes to 
open a new office in a Three Gorges resettlement area.  End 
summary. 
 
2. (U) Consul General and Congenoff recently visited the 
Chongqing office of attorney Zhou Litai.  Zhou and his firm have 
been featured in the international press, and he participated in 
the International Visitor Program in May 2005.  In the past Zhou 
also received a grant for the publication of a book on labor 
rights in China from the Embassy's small grants program. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
RURAL ROOTS, RURAL SYMPATHIES 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
3. (U) Zhou's firm specializes in cases involving the rights of 
blue collar workers, especially migrants.  A former farmer and 
soldier from Sichuan, Zhou described how he had migrated to 
Shenzhen in the early 1980s in search of factory work.  After 
seeing the plight of workers there, he decided to study law, and 
became a licensed attorney in 1986.  He opened the Chongqing 
office in 2001 and an office in Shenzhen in 2006.  He now 
employs 21 attorneys and support staff.  Zhou claimed that his 
firm had handled a total of 7000 cases to date, in every 
province and area of China except the Tibetan Autonomous Region. 
 
 
4. (C) Although obviously proud of his work, Zhou expressed deep 
concern over the viability of his practice.  First and foremost 
are economic concerns: despite his claim that his firm has won 
damage awards in 90 percent of the cases it accepted, those 
victories result in very little income for the firm.  Zhou said 
court orders often go ignored by politically powerful SOEs and 
well-connected private enterprises.  He also bemoaned the lack 
of a system for effectively collecting judgments. 
 
5. (SBU) Zhou's firm prefers to operate on a "contingency fee" 
basis, in which clients pay only if a monetary recovery is 
received.  However, courts typically order awards to be made in 
the form of deposits into injured workers' savings accounts, and 
even when awards are paid, workers often disappear without 
paying the firm for its services.  According to Zhou, Chinese 
law makes no provision for a "trust fund" arrangement, in which 
awards can be first paid to the law firm, and then turned over 
to the plaintiff after fees and costs had been deducted. 
Furthermore, said Zhou, a December 2006 State Council decree 
severely limited the right of lawyers to handle cases on a 
contingency fee basis.  Since migrant workers rarely have enough 
money to retain a lawyer outright, the vast majority of Zhou's 
potential clients are unable to afford legal representation. 
 
6. (C) Despite his financial woes, Zhou talked about plans for 
expanding his practice and his fight for the rights of migrants. 
 He would like to open another office in Chongqing's Wanzhou 
City, an area affected heavily by Three Gorges Dam-related 
resettlement.  (Note: In a previous conversation with another 
Congenoff, Zhou stated that he knew of 30 potential cases in and 
around Wanzhou, but that those individuals were unable to afford 
legal representation.  End note.)  He wants to publish portions 
of his case files, in an effort to document the history of 
workers' rights in China.  He proposed the establishment of the 
"Zhou Litai Labor Rights Protection Institute," to further the 
development of China's labor laws.  With his firm's 
profitability in doubt, Zhou expressed hope that he could 
continue to receive funding from (unnamed) foreign sources.  He 
also asked whether it would be possible for the USG to fund the 
publication of his case files. 
 
7. (C) Turning to the general question of workers' rights in 
China, Zhou opined that the climate for workers had improved 
somewhat in Guangdong due to the increased number of activist 
lawyers there, while he thought the situation in Zhejiang, 
Jiangsu, and other coastal provinces remains as grim as ever. 
Foreign-invested enterprises -- with the exception of Taiwan, 
Hong Kong, and Korean investors -- tended to treat their workers 
 
CHENGDU 00000035  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
much more fairly than domestic firms.  Although he expressed the 
belief that China's central government is at last beginning to 
take the question of workers' rights seriously, he believes that 
local officials often act in a contrary fashion: "They just 
think of their own interests."  Asked about the role of the 
All-China Federated Trade Union and similar organizations in 
protecting workers' rights, Zhou reacted with scorn: "It's just 
an agency of the government.  All it does is steal their money." 
 
------------- 
COMMENT 
------------- 
 
8. (SBU) The law office is decorated with numerous photographs - 
Zhou standing proudly in front of the United States Treasury 
Building; Zhou in a barrister's outfit; Zhou posing with 
visiting foreign dignitaries and USG representatives.  Very much 
a self-promoter, Zhou is nevertheless convincing in his 
determination to fight for the rights of China's downtrodden. 
Congen will maintain contact with Zhou and his firm, and will 
explore with Beijing and Washington the possibility of a small 
grant proposal related to rule of law development. 
BOUGHNER