Media Figure: Due to the inability to establish a players’ union, the Athletes Committee will serve a somewhat similar role

On September 9th, the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) announced the list of members for the Athletes Committee, which includes 21 current and retired players.

A media figure, Fu Zhenghao, interpreted this as follows: “The CBA Athletes Committee will play a certain role similar to that of a players’ union. Some of the committee members listed, such as Zhao Jiwei, attended the CBA Agent Salon held in Xiamen this March, which was considered a milestone meeting in the establishment of the Athletes Committee. As far as I know, back in 2015, the CBA proposed setting up an internal organization similar to the NBA Players Association. However, after consulting with the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), they were informed that under the current laws and regulations in our country, it is not allowed to establish unions divided by profession, such as a players’ union, teachers’ union, or cleaners’ union.

Moreover, many rights of the NBA Players Association conflict with our country’s Labor Law, which also determines that the CBA cannot set up a similar organization. One obvious point is that the NBA Players Association’s trump card is the ability to strike and stop games if their demands are not met, but since the introduction of the Labor Law in 1994, although it has been revised several times, it has never included the word ‘strike’.

Although the CBA cannot establish a players’ union, the ACFTU encourages the formation of organizations like the Players Relations Committee to promote harmonious labor relations and explore collective bargaining mechanisms. In 2016, to implement the Overall Plan for the Reform and Development of Chinese Football, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, together with the Ministry of Education, the General Administration of Sport, and the ACFTU jointly issued the ‘Opinion on Strengthening and Improving Labor Guarantee Management in Professional Football Clubs,’ which proposed encouraging football clubs to establish collective bargaining mechanisms, guiding clubs to legally establish trade union organizations, and playing an important role in organizing and mobilizing players to build harmonious labor relations with the club, legally conducting collective bargaining and signing collective contracts, exploring methods for handling disputes arising from collective contracts, and other major matters involving players.

Based on this, the CBA began to explore the establishment of the Athletes Committee to enhance interaction with athletes and to try to incorporate their opinions and suggestions when formulating rules. However, realistically speaking, players in China find it difficult to have as much say in rule-making as NBA players do. Nevertheless, the CBA is gradually increasing the players’ participation in rule-making, especially in the improvement of standard CBA contracts.”