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Unions to Play Increased Role
The number of trade unions should be increased particularly in non-State-owned enterprises, a senior official said Monday in Beijing.
Unions are essential to protecting the interests and rights of workers and smoothing labour-management relations, said Wei Jianxing, chairman of All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU).
Wei, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, said that as the country's reform efforts and growth enter a critical period, the Party has emphasized that trade unions can act as a bridge between the government and the people. And workers need unions more than ever to represent and protect their interests, he added.
Addressing the fifth presidium of the 13th National Congress of Trade Unions, Wei said that increasing membership in trade unions is crucial to mobilizing workers to contribute to the country's reform and development.
But as reform progresses, some State and collectively-owned firms have eliminated or merged trade unions, and most private firms, share-holding companies and other overseas-funded ventures have yet to create unions, said Wei.
As a result, from 1995 to 1999, more than 17 million workers were dropped from trade unions, Wei said.
By the end of last year, only one-third of employees in foreign-funded ventures and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan-invested companies had joined trade unions.
In the private sector, only 5 per cent of workers were union members. In township enterprises, 3.4 per cent of workers were unionized, according to ACFTU statistics. Over 100 million workers do not have the benefit of trade unions, Wei said.
The weak role of trade unions have partly contributed to the increase of court cases on workers' rights in recent years, Wei said.
Offering an example, Wei said a huge number of farmers have migrated to urban areas to work mostly in non-State-owned enterprises. Far away from their homes and in most cases without legal contracts or trade union protection, these workers are vulnerable to much abuse and personal injury in the workplace.
"Encroachment on workers' legitimate rights and interests happens all the time and is intolerable," Wei said.
Trade unions under Party leadership should assume responsibility of speaking for the workers and seeking fair solutions for them, Wei said.
But the first step is to increase the number of workers in the trade unions, he said.
By the end of 2002, the majority of workers should be unionized, he said.
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