A Chinese trade union official said here Monday that China has established over 1.65 million trade unions at the grass-roots level by the end of June 2002, more than ever before, with a record 130 million members.
Zhang Junjiu, vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, announced the figures at a press conference held on the sidelines of the ongoing 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
Zhang said that the trade unions have played an important role in promoting democratic management inside enterprises and helping safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of employees.
More than 327,000 enterprises across the country have had the system of workers' conferences in place, he said.
The trade unions have also helped a lot in improving the country's social security system and promoting re-employment, he said.
According to Zhang, the trade unions helped nearly three million laid-off workers find new jobs in the past five years, and launched training courses to help improve job skills of 3.19 million laid-off workers.
(Xinhua News Agency November 12, 2002)
