The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is urging all enterprises in China, including foreign and private firms, to set up union organizations to protect workers' legal rights.

The Shenzhen Municipal Trade Union has made great efforts in lobbying the city's booming foreign and private sectors to join its organizations in recent years, said Rao Donghui, vice director with the organization department of the union.

It started a campaign in 2000 to educate foreign and private sectors and help them establish trade unions. Their efforts were fruitful. In 2003, 12,229 foreign-invested firms were covered by the union's network in Shenzhen, accounting for 55.9 percent of the total of 21,883 registered foreign- invested firms in Shenzhen.

Many foreign firms were cooperative and willing to respect Chinese laws, Rao said.

The ratio of foreign firms with a trade union was higher than that of private domestic enterprises in Shenzhen, Rao said.

The trade union of Nam Tai Electronics Inc., a company listed in Hong Kong, had its own office in a separate clean and neat building and actually managed it. The building, known as a "home for workers," was an accommodation and recreation center for workers that included a library, canteen, ball room and other entertainment facilities.

Trade unions could help firms effectively communicate with workers and make workers more satisfied with their work, which would eventually benefit the employers, Rao said.

The number of lawsuits between employers and employees in arbitration courts increased by 31.4 percent from 15,500 in 2001 to 22,600 in 2003 in China. The cases before courts rose 36.5 percent during the period, said a report on the implementation of Trade Union Law made by an inspection team of the 10th National People's Congress Standing Committee.

As a measure to protect workers' rights, Article 10 of China's Trade Union Law stipulates that a union "shall be set up" in any enterprises with 25 or more workers.

Editor: Olivia