Union to push harder for migrants, foreign firm workers

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), China’s only legal workers’ union, pledged at its 15th national meeting to push for increased protection of labor rights, the South China Morning Post reported. Delegates at the meeting, who for the first time included migrant workers, urged amending the organization’s charter to address the rights of China’s tens of millions of migrant laborers as well as employees of foreign firms. No details of the amendment have been released, but a delegate told the newspaper that a consensus had been reached that the ACFTU should do more to address the two issues. Foreign enterprises have been facing an increased likelihood of unionization among their Chinese employees since the promulgation of the new Labor Contract Law at the beginning of this year.