China is set to push for the direct election of grassroots trade union leaders in a bid to better ensure the protection of workers’ rights, state media reported, citing a senior official. Most union leaders are currently appointed and paid by the companies whose workforce they represent. Guo Wencai of the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) said democratic election "is a key standard to measure the effectiveness of a trade union," adding that the ACFTU hopes that the practice of companies appointing union leaders or "assigning someone from their human resources department to act as union leader," will end. The ACFTU has often come under criticism for preventing the establishment of independent trade unions and of doing little in practice to help alleviate the plight of the nation’s vast industrial workforce.