Labor Leader Expelled from China Visits Los Angeles

By Kim Curtis
PR Newswire
March 6, 2008

A dissident Chinese leader who was expelled from his country in 1993 for his union-related activities will visit Los Angeles next week, in part, to study the U.S. labor movement.

In 1989, during the Tiananmen Square protests, Han Dongfang helped form the Beijing Workers Autonomous Federation, the first independent union since the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. About 200 members joined before the union was banned two weeks later. As punishment, Han was sent to prison where he contracted drug-resistant tuberculosis.

In 1991, he was allowed to visit the U.S. for treatment before returning to China. But in 1993, Han was ejected from his country for "opposing and attacking China, betraying it and his Chinese citizenship, undermining the interests of his country and harming its international prestige." He settled in Hong Kong where he formed the China Labour Bulletin, a nongovernmental group that defends and promotes workers' rights in China.

Han has been an outspoken critic of Service Employees Union International and other unions seeking to build alliances with government-dominated Chinese unions.

In a June 22, 2007 article in the Wall Street Journal, Han called the All-China Federation of Trade Unions "a fundamentally toothless labor organization" and portrayed the successful organization of China's Wal-Mart stores "an instant noodle union" that "gives people false hope."

Han also is on the board of Human Rights in China and conducts regular interviews with workers across China on Radio Free Asia. These interviews give a unique insight into the lives of ordinary working people in China and are broadcast three times a week on shortwave radios across China. They're also summarized at http://www.china-labour.org.hk/en .

Han will be in Los Angeles March 7-12 and is available for phone/in-person interviews.

The 150,000-member SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West is the largest hospital and healthcare union in the western United States and represents every type of healthcare worker, including nurses, professional, technical and service classifications. Our mission is to achieve high-quality healthcare for all.