At the January 9 Plenary Session of the Guangzhou Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU), Chairman Chen Weiguang announced that, in 2006, a total of 4,024 trade unions were established in foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) in Guangzhou.

Today, 69.5£¥ of FIEs in Guangzhou have established trade unions, with 411,300 members. Of the total number of Fortune 500 companies with operations in Guangzhou, 104 have established trade unions, and 48 (62.3%) of the 77 Fortune 500 companies operating in Luogang District have formed trade unions.

With the formation of trade unions in FIEs, other enterprises have followed suit. In 2006, enterprises with trade unions employed a total workforce of 2.067 million, up 12.3% over the previous year, with trade union membership totaling 1.765 million, up 11.5% over the previous year.

GFTU is the first one in China to have formed a consulting panel to assist trade unions in collective bargaining over payment issues. The panel consists of professionals who provide guidance and assistance for collective bargaining by trade unions.

Editor: Yan