Trade Union Law bolsters protection of labor rights

China has made progress in implementing its Trade Union Law, giving workers more secure, effective and professional assistance to protect their labor rights, a senior legislator said.

Zheng Jianbang, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, told an ongoing session of the committee that many provinces and regions have launched or revised local regulations on labor law supervision, collective bargaining, democratic management and special rights protections for female workers, based on the national Trade Union Law.

The Trade Union Law was first released in 1992, with its latest amended version published in 2021.

With the strengthened legal foundation, Zheng said, workers have received greater support in safeguarding their rights. Employment dispute arbitration commissions at all levels handled about 4.26 million cases last year, involving 4.55 million workers. Trade unions played active roles in 807,000 of those cases, he said.

However, Zheng noted that some provincial-level regions have yet to revise their local trade union regulations and have not fully promoted the law, leaving many workers with limited understanding of how trade unions help mediate disputes and provide legal assistance.

He added that unions' capacity to protect workers' rights still needs improvement, particularly in the face of an increasing number of disputes amid economic pressures and challenges that workers engaged in new forms of employment are dealing with. Food delivery drivers, for example, often work long hours and have inadequate social insurance.

Zheng also cited problems such as lax management of union dues and the embezzlement or misappropriation of union assets. His remarks were included in a report submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for review on Wednesday.

He called on trade unions to improve their mechanisms for protecting workers' rights under the law, enhance services and deliver more benefits to workers. Unions at all levels should also tighten management of dues to ensure proper use of funds, he said.

In addition, Zheng urged unions to issue policies supporting enforcement of the Trade Union Law and to publicize example cases.