China Cancels Meeting on Rights of Workers

China canceled a meeting of union and business leaders scheduled for next week that was aimed at getting multinational companies to guarantee workers in China basic labor rights.

The Chinese director general of international cooperation sent AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and other labor leaders a letter Friday calling off the meeting and revoking their visas, the labor groups said Monday.

The gathering, organized by the 30-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, was to be the first of its kind in China. China, though not a member of the OECD, was involved in planning the event. The meeting was to address workers’ rights to organize, health and safety standards, child and forced labor, and discrimination.

“This is the right time, not the wrong time, to discuss the rights of workers in China,” said John Evans, general secretary of the trade union advisory group of the OECD. “Labor standards of Chinese workers are in the world spotlight and that spotlight is not about to be turned off.”

Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said he was unaware of the meeting or the cancellation. China didn’t say in its letter why the meeting was called off, said Sarah Massey, a spokeswoman for the AFL-CIO.

Athletic-apparel maker Adidas-Salomon and automaker Nissan Motor Co. were two of the companies scheduled to participate. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was invited, the labor groups said.

Sweeney, whose federation of 60 unions represents 13 million workers, said last week that he would use the meeting to prod companies to abide by international agreements guaranteeing workers’ rights.