Order of the President
of the People’s
Republic of China
No. 62
The
Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s
Congress on Amending the Trade Union Law of the People’s
Republic of China, adopted at the 24th Meeting of the
Standing Committee of the Ninth National People’s Congress
of the People’s Republic of China on October 27, 2001, is
hereby promulgated and shall go into effect as of the date
of its promulgation.
Jiang Zemin
President of
the People’s Republic of China
October 27, 2001
Trade Union Law of
the People’s Republic of China
(Adopted at the Fifth Session of
the Seventh National People’s Congress on April 3, 1992,
amended in accordance with the Decision on Amending the
Trade Union Law of the People’s Republic of China made at
the 24th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth
National People’s Congress on October 27, 2001)
Contents
Chapter I
General Provisions
Chapter II
Trade Union Organizations
Chapter III
Rights and Obligations of Trade Unions
Chapter IV
Basic-level Trade Union
Organizations
Chapter V
Trade Union Funds and
Property
Chapter VI
Legal Responsibility
Chapter VII
Supplementary
Provisions
Chapter I
General Provisions
Article 1
This Law is enacted in accordance with the
Constitution of the People’s Republic of China with a view
to ensuring the status of trade unions in the political,
economic and social life of the State, defining their rights
and obligations and bringing into play their role in the
socialist modernization drive.
Article 2
Trade unions are mass organizations of the working
class formed by the workers and staff members on a voluntary
basis.
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions
and all the trade union organizations under it represent the
interests of the workers and staff members and safeguard the
legitimate rights and interests of the workers and staff
members according to law.
Article 3
All manual and mental workers in enterprises,
institutions and government departments within the territory
of China who rely on wages or salaries as their main source
of income, irrespective of their nationality, race, sex,
occupation, religious belief or educational background, have
the right to organize or join trade unions according to law.
No organizations or individuals shall obstruct or restrict
them.
Article 4
Trade unions shall observe and safeguard the
Constitution, take it as the fundamental criterion for their
activities, take economic development as the central task,
uphold the socialist road, the people’s democratic
dictatorship, leadership by the Communist Party of China,
and Marxist-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping
Theory, persevere in reform and the open policy, and conduct
their work independently in accordance with the Constitution
of trade unions.
The National Congress of Trade Unions formulates or
amends the Constitution of Trade Unions of the People’s
Republic of China, which shall not contravene the
Constitution of the People’s Republic of China or other
laws.
The State protects the legitimate rights and
interests of trade unions from violation.
Article 5
Trade unions shall organize and conduct education
among workers and staff members in order that they shall, in
accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the
People’s Republic of China and other laws, give play to
their role as masters of the country and participate in
various ways and forms in the administration of State
affairs, management of economic and cultural undertakings
and handling of social affairs; trade unions shall assist
the people’s governments in their work and safeguard the
socialist State power under the people’s democratic
dictatorship led by the working class and based on the
alliance of workers and peasants.
Article 6
The basic duties and functions of trade unions are to
safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of workers and
staff members. While protecting the overall interests of the
entire Chinese people, trade unions shall represent and
safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of workers and
staff members.
Trade unions shall coordinate labor
relations and safeguard the rights and interests enjoyed in
work by the workers and staff members of enterprises through
consultation at an equal footing and the collective contract
system.
Trade unions shall, in accordance with
the provisions of laws and through the congresses of the
workers and staff members or other forms, organize the
workers and staff members to participate in democratic
decision-making and management of and democratic supervision
over their own work units.
Trade unions shall maintain close ties
with workers and staff members, solicit and voice their
opinions and demands, show concern for their everyday life,
help them solve their difficulties and serve them
wholeheartedly.
Articles 7 Trade unions shall mobilize
and organize workers and staff members to take an active
part in economic development and to strive to fulfill their
tasks in production and other work. Trade unions shall
educate workers and staff members constantly in the need to
improve their ideological, ethical, technical, professional,
scientific and cultural qualities, in order to build a
contingent team of well-educated and self-disciplined
workers and staff members with lofty ideals and moral
integrity.
Article 8
The All-China Federation of
Trade Unions shall, on the principle of independence,
equality, mutual respect and non-interference in each
other’s internal affairs, strengthen friendly and
cooperative relations with trade union organizations of
other countries.
Chapter II
Trade Union
Organizations
Article 9
Trade union organizations at various levels shall be
established according to the principle of democratic
centralism.
Trade union committees at various levels
shall be democratically elected at members’ assemblies or
members’ congresses. No close relatives of the chief members
of an enterprise may be candidates for members of the
basic-level trade union committee of the enterprise.
Trade union committees at various levels
shall be accountable, and report their work, to the members’
assemblies or members’ congresses at their respective levels
and be subjected to their supervision as well.
Trade union members’ assemblies or
congresses shall have the right to remove or recall the
representatives or members of trade union committees they
elected.
A trade union organization at a higher
level shall exercise leadership over a trade union
organization at a lower level.
Article 10 A
basic-level trade union committee shall be set up in an
enterprise, an institution or a government department with a
membership of twenty-five or more; where the membership is
less than twenty-five, a basic-level trade union committee
may be separately set up, or a basic-level trade union
committee may be set up jointly by the members in two or
more work units, or an organizer may be elected, to organize
the members in various activities. Where female workers and
staff members are relatively large in number, a trade union
committee for female workers and staff members may be set
up, which shall carry out its work under the leadership of
the trade union at the corresponding level; where they are
relatively small in number, there may be a member in charge
of the female workers and staff members on a trade union
committee.
In townships, towns or in urban
neighborhoods, where workers and staff members of
enterprises are relatively large in number, joint
basic-level trade union federations may be set up.
Local trade union federations shall be
established in places at or above the county level.
Industrial trade unions may be formed,
when needed, at national or local levels for a single
industry or several industries of a similar nature.
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions
shall be established as the unified national organization.
Article 11
The establishment of basic-level trade union
organizations, local trade union federations, and national
or local industrial trade union organizations shall be
submitted to the trade union organization at the next higher
level for approval.
Trade union organizations at higher
levels may dispatch their members to assist and guide the
workers and staff members of enterprises to set up their
trade unions, no units or individuals may obstruct the
effort.
Article 12
No organizations or individuals may dissolve or merge
trade union organizations at will.
A basic-level trade union organization
shall be dissolved accordingly when the enterprise or
institution or government department to which it belongs is
terminated or dissolved, and the matter shall be reported to
the trade union organization at the next higher level.
The membership of the members of the
dissolved trade union organization specified in the
provisions of the preceding paragraph may be retained, and
the specific administrative measures in this regard shall be
formulated by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.
Article 13
For a trade union in an enterprise or institution
with two hundred and more workers and staff members, there
may be a full-time chairman. The number of the full-time
functionaries of a trade union shall be determined by the
trade union together with the enterprise or institution
through consultation.
Article 14
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions, a local
trade union federation or an industrial trade union enjoys
the status of a legal person in the capacity of a public
organization.
A basic-level trade union organization,
which has acquired the qualifications of a legal person as
prescribed in the General Principles of the Civil Law,
shall, in accordance with law, be granted the status of a
legal person as a public organization.
Article 15 The term of office of the
basic-level trade union committee is three or five years.
The term of office of the committees of the local trade
union federations at different levels and of the industrial
trade union organizations is five years.
Article 16
Basic-level trade union committees shall convene
members’ assemblies or members’ congresses at regular
intervals, at which major issues related to the work of
trade union organizations shall be discussed and decided.
Upon the proposal made by a basic-level trade union
committee or over one-third of the trade union members, a
provisional members’ assembly or members’ congress may be
convened.
Article 17 No trade union chairman or
vice-chairman may be arbitrarily transferred to another unit
before the expiration of his tenure of office. When such a
transfer is prompted by the need of work, it shall be
subject to approval by the trade union committee at the
corresponding level and the trade union at the next higher
level.
The recall of the chairman or
vice-chairman of a trade union must be discussed at the
members’ assembly or members’ congress, and no such recall
shall be made without approval by more than half of all the
members at the assembly or congress.
Article 18
The term of labor contract for the full-time
chairman, vice-chairman or member of a basic-level trade
union shall be automatically extended from the date he
assumes the office, and the term extended shall be equal to
the term of office; if the term of labor contract left to be
served by a chairman, vice-chairman or member is shorter
than the term of office from the date he the assumes the
office, the term of the labor contract shall be
automatically extended to the expiration of the term of
office, except that he commits serious mistakes during the
term of office or reaches the statutory age for retirement.
Chapter III
Rights and Obligations of
Trade Unions
Article 19
If an enterprise or institution acts in contravention
to the system of the congress of workers and staff members
or other systems of democratic management, the trade union
shall have the right to demand rectification so as to ensure
the workers and staff members the exercise of their right in
democratic management as prescribed by law.
For matters which should be submitted to
the assembly or congress of workers and staff members for
deliberation, adoption or decision, as prescribed by laws
and regulations, enterprises or institutions shall do so
accordingly.
Article 20
Trade unions shall assist and guide workers and staff
members in signing labor contracts with enterprises or
institutions managed as enterprises.
Trade unions shall, on behalf of the
workers and staff members, make equal consultations and sign
collective contracts with enterprises or institutions under
enterprise-style management.
The draft collective contracts shall be submitted to
the congresses of the workers and staff members or all the
workers and staff members for deliberation and approval.
When trade unions sign collective
contracts, trade unions at higher levels shall afford
support and assistance to them.
If an enterprise infringes upon labor
rights and interests of the workers and staff members in
violation of the collective contract, the trade union may,
according to law, demand the enterprise to assume the
responsibilities for its acts; if the disputes arising from
the performance of the collective contract fail to be
settled through consultations, the trade union may submit
them to the labor dispute arbitration bodies for
arbitration; if the arbitration bodies refuse to accept the
case or the trade union is not satisfied with the arbitral
ruling, the
trade union may bring the case before a People’s Court.
Article 21
If an enterprise or institution punishes a worker or
staff member in a manner that the trade union considers
improper, the trade union shall have the right to advance
its opinion.
Before unilaterally deciding to dissolve
the labor contract with a worker or staff member, the
enterprise shall inform the trade union of the reasons why;
and, if the trade union considers that the enterprise
violates laws, regulations or the contract in question and
demands that it reconsider the matter, the enterprise shall
study the opinion of the trade union, and inform the trade
union of its final decision in writing.
Where a worker or staff member believes
that the enterprise infringes upon his labor rights and
interests and therefore applies for labor dispute
arbitration or brings the case before a People’s Court, the
trade union shall give him support and assistance.
Article 22
If an enterprise or institution, in violation of laws
and regulations on labor, infringes upon the labor rights
and interests of the workers and staff members in any of the
following ways, the trade union shall, on behalf of the
workers and staff members, make representations to the
enterprise or institution and demand that it take measures
for rectification; the enterprise or institution shall
review and handle the matter, and give a reply to the trade
union; if the enterprise or institution refuses to make
rectification, the trade union may apply to the local
people’s government for a decision according to law:
(1)
embezzling part of the wages of the workers and staff
members;
(2)
failing to provide occupational safety and health
conditions;
(3)
arbitrarily extending working hours;
(4)
infringing upon the special rights and interests of
female workers and staff members as well as the minor
workers; or
(5)
seriously infringing upon other labor rights and
interests of the workers and staff members.
Article 23
Trade unions shall, in
accordance with State regulations, ee to it that the working
conditions and occupational safety and health facilities for
enterprises under construction or expansion and for
technological transformation projects are designed, built
and put into operation or use simultaneously with the main
parts of projects. The enterprises or the competent
departments shall give serious consideration to the opinions
put forth by the trade unions, and inform the trade unions
of the results of their consideration in writing.
Article 24
When the trade union finds that the enterprise gives
a command contrary to the established rules and compels
workers to operate under unsafe conditions, or when major
hidden dangers and occupational hazards are found in the
course of production, the trade union shall have the right
to put forward proposals for a solution, and the enterprise
shall, without delay, consider the proposals and give a
reply to the trade union. Where the very lives of the
workers and staff members are found to be in danger, the
trade union shall have the right to make a proposal to the
enterprise that a withdrawal of the workers and staff
members from the dangerous site be organized, and the
enterprise shall make a decision promptly.
Article 25
Trade unions shall have the right to investigate into
the infringements upon the legitimate rights and interests
of the workers and staff members by enterprises or
institutions, and the units concerned shall give them
assistance.
Article 26
Trade unions shall participate in investigation into
and settlement of job-related accidents causing death or
injuries to workers and staff members and in investigation
into and solution of other problems seriously endangering
the health of workers and staff members. Trade unions shall
make proposals for solutions to the departments concerned,
and have the right to demand that the persons who are
directly in charge and the other persons who are responsible
be investigated for their liabilities. The proposals put
forth by trade unions shall be considered and replies be
given without delay.
Article 27
In case of work-stoppage or slow-down strike in an
enterprise or institution, the trade union shall, on behalf
of the workers and staff members, hold consultation with the
enterprise or institution or the parties concerned, present
the opinions and demands of the workers and staff members,
and put forth proposals for solutions. With respect to the
reasonable demands made by the workers and staff members,
the enterprise or institution shall try to satisfy them. The
trade union shall assist the enterprise or institution in
properly dealing with the matter so as to help restore the
normal order of production and other work as soon as
possible.
Article 28
Trade unions shall participate in the conciliation of
labor disputes in enterprises.
Local labor dispute arbitration bodies
shall include representatives of trade unions at the
corresponding levels.
Article 29
Trade union federations at or above the county level
may provide legal services to their affiliated trade unions
and workers and staff members.
Article 30
Trade unions shall assist enterprises, institutions
and government departments in providing adequate collective
welfare services to the workers and staff members and in
properly dealing with matters concerning wages, occupational
safety and health as well as social insurance.
Article 31
Trade unions shall, in
conjunction with enterprises and institutions, conduct
education among the workers and staff members in the need to
do their work and protect the property of the enterprises
and the State in the attitude of masters of the country,
mobilize the masses of workers and staff members in
activities to make rational proposals and technical
renovations and in sparetime cultural and technical studies
and vocational training, and also in recreational and sports
activities.
Article 32
Entrusted by the government, trade unions shall,
together with relevant departments, do a good job of
choosing, commending, cultivating and administering model
workers and advanced producers (workers).
Article 33
When organizing people to draft or revise laws,
regulations or rules directly related to the immediate
interests of workers and staff members, the government
departments shall listen to the opinions of trade unions.
When working out plans for national economic and social
development, the people’s governments at or above the county
level shall, where major questions related to the interests
of workers and staff members are concerned, listen to the
opinions of the trade unions at the corresponding levels.
When studying and working out policies
and measures on employment, wages, occupational safety and
health, social insurance, and other questions related to the
immediate interests of workers and staff members, the
people’s governments at or above the county level and their
relevant departments shall invite the trade unions at the
corresponding levels to take part in the study and listen to
their opinions.
Article 34
The people’s governments at or
above the county level may, through meetings or by other
appropriate ways, inform the trade unions at the
corresponding levels of their important work programmes and
administrative measures related to trade union work, analyse
and settle the problems as reflected in the opinions and
aspirations of the masses of the workers and staff members
conveyed by trade unions.
Administrative departments
for labor under the people’s governments at various levels
shall, together with the trade unions at the corresponding
levels and the representatives of enterprises, establish
trilateral consultation mechanisms on labor relations and
jointly analyse and settle major issues regarding labor
relations.
Chapter IV
Basic-level Trade Union Organizations
Article 35 In a
State-owned enterprise, the congress of the workers and
staff members is the basic form of democratic management of
the enterprise and the organ by which the workers and staff
members exercise their right to democratic management, and
discharges its functions and powers in accordance with the
provisions of laws.
The trade union committee of the
State-owned enterprise is the working body of the congress
of the workers and staff members and takes care of the
day-to-day work of the congress, checks and supervises the
implementation of the resolutions adopted by the congress.
Article 36
The trade union committee of a collectively owned
enterprise shall support and organize the participation of
the workers and staff members in democratic management and
democratic supervision, and defend their rights in electing,
removing managerial personnel and deciding on major
questions concerning operation and management.
Article 37
Trade union committees of enterprises or institutions
other than the ones specified in Articles 35 and 36 of this
Law shall, in accordance with the provisions of laws,
organize the participation of the workers and staff members
in democratic management of the enterprises and institutions
by ways appropriate to the enterprises or institutions.
Article 38
When discussing major issues on operation, management
and development, the enterprise or institution shall listen
to the opinions of trade union. The trade union in an
enterprise or institution shall have its representative(s)
attending any meetings held by the enterprise or institution
to discuss matters on wages, welfare, occupational safety
and health, social insurance and other questions related to
the immediate interests of the workers and staff members.
An enterprise or institution shall
support the trade union in carrying out its activities in
accordance with law, and the trade union shall support the
enterprise or institution in exercising its power of
operation and management in accordance with law.
Article 39
Election of the representative(s) from among the
workers and staff members to the board of directors or the
board of supervisors of a company shall be conducted in
accordance with the relevant provisions of the Company Law.
Article 40
Basic-level trade union committees shall hold
meetings or organize activities for workers and staff
members outside production- or work-hours; when such
meetings or activities are to take up production- or
work-hours, they shall seek prior consent from the
enterprises or institutions.
Part-time
committee members of basic-level trade unions shall receive
their normal wages, and their other benefits shall remain
unaffected if the meetings they attend or the trade union
work they do during production- or work-hours take up not
more than three working days every month.
Article 41
Full-time functionaries of trade union committees in
enterprises, institutions and government departments shall
have their wages, bonuses and subsidies paid by the units to
which they belong. They shall enjoy the same social
insurance and other welfare benefits as the other workers
and staff members of their units.
Chapter V
Trade Union Funds and Property
Article 42
The sources of trade union funds are as follows:
(1)
membership dues paid by union members;
(2)
contribution, equivalent to two percent of the
monthly payroll of all the workers and staff members,
allocated by the enterprise, institution or government
department where the trade union is established;
(3)
incomes derived from enterprises and undertakings run
by trade unions;
(4)
subsidies provided by the people’s governments; and
(5)
other incomes.
The contribution allocated by the
enterprises or institutions, as specified in Subparagraph
(2) of the preceding paragraph, shall be listed and
allocated before tax.
Trade union funds shall mainly be used in
the service of the workers and staff members and for
activities sponsored by trade unions. Measures for the use
of trade union funds shall be formulated by the All-China
Federation of Trade Unions.
Article 43 Where an enterprise or
institution delays allocating or refuses to allocate the
contribution to the trade union without justifiable reasons,
the basic-level trade union or the trade union at a higher
level may apply to the local People’s Court for an order for
payment; if it refuses to obey the order, the trade union
may, in accordance with law, apply to the People’s Court for
compulsory enforcement.
Article 44
Trade unions shall establish budgets, final accounts
and auditing and supervisory systems based on the principle
of financial autonomy.
For trade unions at various levels,
auditing commissions shall be set up.
Trade unions at various levels shall
subject their incomes and expenditures to examination by the
auditing commissions at the corresponding levels, report
them regularly to the members’ assemblies or congresses and
receive their supervision.
The trade union members’ assemblies or congresses
shall have the right to express their opinions on the use of
funds.
The use of trade union funds shall be
subject to State supervision according to law.
Article 45
People’s governments at various levels and
enterprises, institutions and government departments shall
make available such necessary material means as facilities
and places for trade unions to function and conduct their
activities.
Article 46
No trade unions’ property, funds, or immovable
property allocated by the State may be embezzled, diverted
to other uses or arbitrarily disposed of, by any
organization or individual.
Article 47 No
enterprises or institutions run by trade unions to serve the
workers and staff members may have their affiliation changed
arbitrarily.
Article 48
Retired trade union functionaries at or above the
county level shall enjoy the same treatment as retired
functionaries of government departments do.
Chapter VI
Legal Responsibility
Article 49
Where their legitimate rights and interests are
infringed upon in violation of the provisions of this Law,
the trade unions shall have the right to submit the matter
to people’s governments or relevant departments for
solution, or to bring the case before a People’s Court.
Article 50
Any organization or individual that, in violation of
the provisions of Articles 3 and 11 of this Law, obstructs
the workers’ and staff members’ from joining or organizing
of trade unions in accordance with law or the effort made by
trade unions at higher levels to assist and guide the
workers and staff members in establishing trade unions shall
be ordered to by the administrative department for labor to
make rectification; if it refuses to do so, the said
department may apply to the people’s government at or above
the county level for solution; where grave consequences are
caused as a result of the use of such means as violence and
threat in obstruction and thus a crime is constituted,
criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to
law.
Article 51
Any organization that, in violation of the provisions
of this Law, retaliate the functionaries of trade unions who
perform their duties and functions according to law by
transferring them to other posts without justifiable reasons
shall be ordered by
the administrative department for labor to rectify and
reinstate the functionaries; if losses are caused therefrom,
compensation shall be made to them.
Anyone who humiliates, slanders or
inflict injuries upon the functionaries of trade unions who
perform their duties and functions according to law, which
constitutes a crime, shall be investigated for criminal
responsibility according to law; if the case is not serious
enough to constitute a crime, he shall be punished by the
public security organ in accordance with the regulations on
administrative penalties for public security.
Article 52
In any of the following cases in which the provisions
of this Law are violated, the administrative department for
labor shall order that the victim be reinstated, his
remuneration payable during the period of the termination of
the labor contract be made up, or that a compensation two
times the amount of his annual income be given:
(1)
the labor contract of a worker or staff member is
terminated due to his participation in trade union
activities; or
(2)
the labor contract of a trade union functionary is
terminated due to the performance of his duties and
functions prescribed by this Law.
Article 53
Any organization or individual that, in violation of
the provisions of this Law, commits one of the following
acts shall be ordered by the people’s governments at or
above the county level to rectify, and the said government
shall handle the case according to law:
(1)
preventing a trade union from mobilizing the workers
and staff members to exercise, according to law, their
democratic rights through the congress of the workers and
staff members and other forms;
(2)
illegally dissolving or merging trade union
organizations;
(3)
preventing a trade union from participating in the
investigation into and solution of an accident causing
job-related injuries or death to workers or staff members or
other infringements upon the legitimate rights and interests
of the workers and staff members; or
(4)
rejecting consultation on an equal footing without
justifiable reasons.
Article 54
Anyone who, in violation of the provisions of Article
46 of this Law, embezzles the fund or property of a trade
union and refuses to return it, the trade union may bring
the case before a People’s Court and demand that the fund or
property be returned and that the losses caused be
compensated.
Article 55 Where
a trade union functionary, in violation of the provisions of
this Law, infringes upon the rights and interests of the
workers and staff members or of the trade union, the trade
union at the corresponding level or the trade union at a
higher level shall order the functionary to rectify, or
impose a sanction on him; if the circumstances are serious,
the functionary shall be removed from office in accordance
with the Constitution of Trade Unions of the People’s
Republic of China; if losses are caused, the liability for
compensation shall be borne; if a crime is constituted,
criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to
law.
Chapter VII
Supplementary Provisions
Article 56
Specific measures for implementation of this Law by
the trade unions in government departments shall be
formulated by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions
together with relevant government departments.
Article 57
This Law shall go into effect as of the date of its
promulgation. The Trade Union Law of the People’s Republic
of China, promulgated by the Central People’s Government on
June 29, 1950, shall be nullified at the same time.
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