How to fire a trade union president who has seriously violated discipline?

Zhan is the purchasing manager and trade union president of Shanghai K Company. K fired Zhan for serious violation of rules and regulations due to fake sick leave. Zhan filed labor arbitration, claiming that K had illegally terminated the labor contract with the reason that K had not obtained the consent of the trade union at the next level up.
In order to protect committee members of a trade union from unfair treatment due to their performance of their duties, the “Trade Union Law”, the “Interim Measures for the Protection of the Legal Rights and Interests of the Trade Union President” and some other regulations have prescribed special provisions on the protection of their legal rights and interests, especially regarding the trade union president and deputy president. However, Article 18 of the “Trade Union Law” also stipulates that there is no special protection if a committee member commits serious negligence. According to Article 2 of the “Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the ‘Trade Union Law’ in Civil Trial Proceedings”, the “serious negligence” refers to the serious violation of discipline as stipulated in Article 25 (2), (3) and (4) of the “Labor Law”, due to which the employer could terminate the labor contract with the relevant committee member. Therefore, if a trade union president has seriously violated discipline, his labor contract could be terminated.
However, it is worth to be noted that some local authorities may require employers to notify the trade union at the next level up, or obtain its consent, when terminating a labor contract with the trade union president or deputy president. For example, Article 25 of the “Measures for the Implementation of the Trade Union Law in Jiangsu Province”, Article 21 of the “Regulations on the Work of Enterprise Trade Unions in Jiangxi Province”, Article 18 of the “Measures for the Implementation of the Trade Union Law in Beijing” and some other cities or provinces have prescribed that employers shall obtain the consent of the trade union at the next level up. And cities and provisions, such as Shanghai, Guangdong province and etc., do not have such provisions. The case in the beginning, in which the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate Court pointed out, “Company K had fulfilled its obligation to notify the trade union before Zhan filed the lawsuit. Although Zhan was the trade union president, the relevant laws and regulations have not prescribed that an employer could not terminate a trade union president’s labor contract, if this employee had violated discipline.”
In practice, if a local regulation requires the consent of the trade union at the next level up, but the trade union at the next level up does not give a reply or reply as “abstention”, then how to deal with such situation?
We suggest that employers should keep a good pace in the communication with the trade union at the next level up and retain relevant evidence as follows.
(1) When submitting the written request for comments, it is recommended to keep the delivery receipt, or obtain the receipt from the accepting staff when such written request is handed over in person.
(2) In the event that the trade union at the next level up does not give a reply or reply as “abstention”, it is recommended to urge in written, in which the employer could set a deadline for the trade union at the next level up to reply, and if it refuses to give the consent, it shall provide clear reasons. If the employer has fulfilled the aforesaid procedures, and it still fails to obtain the consent of the trade union at the next level up, then the risk regarding illegal termination of the labor contract with the trade union president would be reduced. In addition, in this process, if it is possible, the employer could report the problems with the trade union at the next level up to the higher level of such trade union, which could also reflect the employer is cautious and law-abiding.