Labor Protection Work Conducted by Chinese Trade Unions

        1. Positively Participating in the Formulation of the State Laws, Regulations and Policies concerning Labor Safety and Hygiene

        The Chinese trade unions have positively advanced and participated in formulation of laws and regulations concerning workers' safety and health rights and interests and with regard to supervision over safety production by trade unions such as the Labor Law, the Trade Union Law, the Safety Production Law, the Occupational Disease Prevention Law, the Labor Contract Law and the Industrial Injury Insurance Regulations; in articles and clauses of relevant laws and regulations, the trade unions have always insisted that rights and responsibilities of the workers and for safeguarding the workers' safety and health rights and interests should be maintained, that workers should enjoy the rights for labor safety and hygiene protection and that the governments and enterprises should take the legal responsibility for protection of workers' safety and health. In advancing the establishment of relevant laws and regulations of the state, the trade unions have positively facilitated the promulgation of local laws and regulations on labor safety and hygiene, enhanced analysis and study of labor safety and hygienic conditions and thoroughly probed into and reflected the wishes and demands of the masses of workers to provide basis for governments' decision-making. In recent years, trade union federations above the prefectural and municipal levels across the country have participated each year in drawing up and revision of more than 100 state and local laws, regulations and standards on labor safety and hygiene and put forward more than 15,000 subjects and proposals at the joint conferences with local governments at all levels, of which over 70% have been handled and implemented.

        2. Strengthening the Construction of Trade Unions' Labor Protection Mechanism and System

        On the basis of establishing the larbor relation coordination tripartite conference systems throughout the country, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions have positively advanced the establishment of special committees for labor safety and hygiene or establishment of the joint conference systems jointly with the government departments; the local trade union federations above the county level have set up dialogue channels in various forms with government departments concerned according to actual conditions and facilitated the establishment of local labor safety and hygiene coordination mechanisms. Trade unions at various levels in China have vigorously striven for government support and participation by public authorities concerned, built an external environment conducive to labor protection work to be conducted by trade unions and facilitated the formation of a socialized rights protection pattern; have stimulated enterprises to carry out the Labor Contract Law and the Collective Contract Regulations, set up labor safety and hygiene equal consultation mechanisms and workers' congress supervising and restraining mechanisms among entrprises, and signed special labor protection collective contracts.

        Over time, the Chinese trade unions have endeavored to strengthen the construction of the labor protection organizational system. At present, the trade union sectors throughout the country have set up functional labor protection institutions at the state, local (industrial) and enterprise levels and have universally established the mass labor protection supervision and inspection organizations among the vast numbers of enterprises and institutions to have provided a forceful organizational guarantee for trade unions to carry out the labor protection among the workers. (Details as follows).

        3. Organizing Workers to Practise Supervision and Inspection of Labor Safety and Hygiene Work

        Over recent years, trade unions at various levels in China have focused their attention on highly dangerous trades and professions in which accidents take place frequently, serious occupational hazards prevail and rural (i.e. migrant) workers relatively centralise, such as coal, construction and chemical industries, to consolidate supervision and inspection of labor safety and hygiene. Take 2006 as an example. In 2006, trade unions at various levels across the country participated in safety production inspections totaling 2.301 million times, trade unions above the grassroots level in various localities participated in safety production inspections for about 190,000 times and put forward more than 237,000 opinions for straightening up hidden perils and occupational hazards.

        The All-China Federation of Trade Unions has taken vigorous action to facilitate the resolution of conspicuous problems infringing upon the legitimate safety and health rights and interests of rural (i.e. migrant) workers, and have started the "Special Action for Paying Respect to Safety of Lives and Health of Rural Workers" jointly with State Administration of Work Safety and State Administration of Coal Mine Safety. In highly dangerous trades and professions where rural workers relatively centralise, such as mines, construction, processing and manufacturing industries, the ACFTU has widely started the activity of "checking up hidden perils, stopping up loopholes and ensuring safety" to stimulate the enterprises to constantly improve the labor safety and hygienic conditions for rural workers and to urge governments at all levels to carry out supervision and management in accordance with the law. Trade unions at various levels have widely given publicity to safety production policies and popularized safety and hygienic knowledge among the vast numbers of rural workers and, in recent years, the trade unions have issued ten million copies of propaganda material on laws and regulations in relation to workers' safety and health rights and interests and have trained 10 million rural workers or so in various forms.

        Trade unions have consolidated the construction of the mass supervision ranks among coal mining enterprises where accidents take place frequently. To date, more than 80,000 coal mining safety mass supervisors have been engaged in 24 coal-producing provinces throughout the country; the training of coal mining safety mass supervisors has been widely carried out and the Practical Manual for Specially Engaged Coal Mining Safety Mass Supervisors has been compiled to guide the enterprises to conduct job training among the mass supervisors and to stimulate various localities and enterprises to formulate ruels, regulations and measures to continually improve the management over the specially engaged coal mining safety mass supervisors.

        Trade unions have consolidated the construction of their ability to participate in prevention and treatment of occupational diseases. Over recent years, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions has started the research of the "project on trade unions' participation in prevention and treatment of occupational diseases" jointly with the Institute for Occupational Health and Toxicosis Control under the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, presented modes for trade unions' participation in occupational disease prevention and treatment at different levels through research into problems, challenges and countermeasures facing the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases in China, and provided services thereby for prevention and treatment of occupational diseases to be carried out by trade unions at various levels and the enterprise labor unions in particular.