Foreign and Military Affairs

Labor union leaders call for co-op

By Chen Xin (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-04-29 15:31

BEIJING - World labor union leaders have called for deepened cooperation among union organizations around the world to better protect laborers' rights.

George Mavrikos, secretary general of the World Federation of Trade Unions, said his federation has been working with major union organizations such as the All China Federation of Trade Unions, the Organization of African Trade Union Unity and the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions, to help laborers in those countries to realize decent work.

"Decent work, which ensures laborers a stable and full-time job, enough income to support a family, as well as sound public social security system, is fundamental for all laborers," he said at a two-day international trade union forum, which closed Thursday in Beijing.

Mavrikos said global trade unions still face many challenges in laborers' rights protection movement.

Since the 1990s many laborers' full-time jobs have been replaced by part-time positions and their income has become very unstable, and some of them even could not be paid for their overtime work, he said.

Governments in some countries have deprived workers of their right to conduct collective bargaining on wages by abolishing related laws and regulations in excuse of the global financial crisis, he said.

Worldwide laborers are also facing a delay in retirement age and lower pensions, he said.

"To deal with those problems, I would call worldwide trade unions to strive for stable jobs, 35-hour weekly work time and higher pay for workers. The minimum wag payment mechanism in all industries should also be established in each country and workers' legal right of collective bargaining should be guaranteed," he suggested.

Commenting on China's effort in rights protection of laborers, J.M. Salazar-Xirinachs, executive director of the International Labor Organization (ILO) said "China has been very pragmatic and is making every effort to address labor disputes that occur in the country."

"China has realized in lifting 400 million people out of poverty, which has proved that the country is dedicated in improving people's livelihood. It also showed that it respects workers' rights," he told China Daily on the sideline of the forum.

Salazar said the ILO has been keeping a very sound cooperative relationship with the government, trade unions and employers in China and their cooperation ranges from employment, law, social security, collective bargaining to laborers' skill training.

"I hope the ILO's cooperation with China could get stronger and I wish to see more cooperation projects which would help benefit Chinese laborers to come in the future," he said.

Wang Zhaoguo, chairman of the All China Federation of Trade Unions, the top trade union organization in China, said at the forum that laborers are the fundamental force to sustain economic growth, and worldwide unions should strive to create more jobs for laborers, increase their income, provide skill trainings to them, make them enjoy equal social security and share the fruit of economic development.

"Developing countries would face similar problems in economic development at this time when economic globalization deepens, and laborers in those countries may have the same demand."

"Worldwide trade union organizations, especially those from developing countries should strengthen communication and cooperation and learn experience from each other to jointly help with the development of laborers," he said.