| Full name | All-China Federation of Trade Unions |
|---|---|
| Native name | 中华全国总工会 |
| Founded | May 1, 1925 |
| Members | 193 million in 2008[1] 134 million in 2005[2] |
| Country | People's Republic of China |
| Key people | Wang Zhaoguo, chairman |
| Office location | Beijing, China |
| Website | www.acftu.org.cn |
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions ('ACFTU; simplified Chinese: 中华全国总工会; traditional Chinese: 中華全國總工會; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Quánguó Zǒnggōng Huì), is the sole national trade union federation of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest trade union in the world with 134 million members in 1,713,000 primary trade union organizations.[2] The ACFTU is divided into 31 regional federations and 10 national industrial unions.
The Workers' Daily is the ACFTU newspaper.
Contents |
Officially founded May 1, 1925, from the second conference of the All-China General Labour Federation, the ACFTU was restricted in 1927 by the newly established KMT rule of Chiang Kai-shek.[1] Many trade unionists were executed in this period, and government-sponsored "yellow" unions were installed.[1]
By the rise of Mao Zedong in 1949, the ACFTU had been re-established as the sole trade union centre, but was again dissolved in 1966 in the wake of the Cultural Revolution.[1]
Following Mao's death in 1976, in October 1978 the ACFTU held its first congress since 1957. Since the early 1990s it has been regulated by the Trade Union Law of the People’s Republic of China.
In 2008, a new labor law in China is forcing most companies - including most foreign owned ones - to create an ACFTU chaptered trade union within them.[1]
ACFTU has a monopoly on trade unionizing in China and creation of competing unions is illegal.[1] As a tool of the government, ACFTU has been seen as not acting in the best interest of its members (workers), bowing to the government pressure on industry growth and not defending workers' rights.[1] This, however, may be changing in 2000s.[1]
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions maintains the position that the ACFTU is not an independent trade union organisation, and states in its policy:
5. There are differing approaches among ICFTU affiliates and Global Union Federations concerning contacts with the ACFTU. They range from “no contacts” to “constructive dialogue”. The ICFTU, noting that the ACFTU is not an independent trade union organisation and, therefore, cannot be regarded as an authentic voice of Chinese workers, reaffirms its request to all affiliates and Global Union Federations having contacts with the Chinese authorities, including the ACFTU, to engage in critical dialogue. This includes raising violations of fundamental workers’ and trade union rights in any such meetings, especially concerning cases of detention of trade union and labour rights activists.[3]