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| | | Trade unions try hard to help laid-off workers find new jobs
2003-09-24
Xinhua
China's trade unions have
played a major role in the re-employment of redundant factory staff, and in the
past five years, over 4,000 trade union-run job centers have helped more than 3
million find new jobs.
Delegates attending the current 14th National
Congress of Chinese Trade Unions have called for greater focus on the issue of
re-employment.
"Reforms are necessary for increasing competitiveness on
the market, but companies must protect the interests of their employees," said
Zuo Shanhu, a delegate and chairman of the municipal trade union of machinery
and electronics industries in Shanghai, the country's largest industrial
base.
Zuo said he is satisfied about the central leadership's attitudes
toward the issue of re-employment of factory staff.
Top leaders have
encouraged trade unions to safeguard the rights of workers and called for
creating a sound environment for the unions to fulfill their
duties.
Trade unions must be informed of the plan for the arrangement of
layoffs, before a company carries out redundancies, the union official
said.
China's unemployment problem is serious. According to official
figures, this year, 6 million factory staff were laid off, in addition to 10
million people who have just reached the working age and nearly 8 million
registered jobless people.
The central government has requested that more
effective measures be taken to deal with the issue. The All-China Federation of
Trade Unions has stressed that reforms must be supported, but dismissal of
employees must be properly managed.
In Shanghai, local trade unions have
been involved in professional training for laid-off workers, to ensure they find
new jobs. Local companies are obliged to spend a sum of money, about 1.5 percent
of total salaries, for the job training programs.
Over the past few
years, the central government has allocated huge funds for re-employment. This
year alone, the central government allocated 3.3 billion yuan (almost 400
million US dollars) for the purpose. The funds were raised through issuance of
government bonds.
Moreover, the central government will provide local
governments with 10 billion yuan (about 1.2 billion US dollars) for the payment
of bottom-line subsidies for factory layoffs, and another 4.7 billion yuan
(about 566 million US dollars) for the transfer payment of funds to help these
people.
However, Huang Xiaoying, a delegate from Xiamen, Fujian Province,
east China, complained that in localities, redundant staff often did not receive
the preferential policies issued by the central government. She urged local
departments concerned to help trade unions with re-employment.  | | | | |
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