Gender discrimination will be a major focus of the national workers' union this year as it confronts problems of employment in China, a senior official of the union said on Monday.

Guo Jun, secretary of the All China Federation of Trade Unions said on Monday that the unions have noticed a number of cases in recent years tied to the violation of workers' interests.

For example, a series of suicides of workers at Foxconn, a major supplier of components to Apple, occurred in 2010.