The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is a mass organization of the working class formed voluntarily by the Chinese workers and staff members. Founded on May 1, 1925, it now has a membership of 134 million in more than 1.713 million primary trade union organizations.

It is stipulated in the Constitution of the Chinese Trade Unions that membership in trade unions is open to all manual and mental workers in enterprises, undertakings and offices inside China whose wages constitute their principal means of livelihood and who accept the Constitution of the Chinese Trade Unions irrespective of their nationality, race, sex, occupation, religious belief or educational background.

The Chinese trade unions apply the organizational principle of combing leadership along industrial lines with that on a locality basis. Now, under the leadership of ACFTU, there are 31 federations of trade unions of provinces, autonomous region and municipalities directly under the Central Government and 10 national industrial unions, namely,

1.        National Committee of the Chinese Educational, Scientific, Cultural, Medical and Sports Workers’ Union;

2.        National Committee of the Chinese Seamen and Construction Workers’ Union;

3.        National Committee of the Chinese Energy and Chemical Workers’ Union;

4.       National Committee of the Chinese Machinery, Metallurgical and Building Material Workers’ Union;

5.        National Committee of the Chinese Defense Industry, Postal and Telecommunications Workers’ Union;

6.        National Committee of the Chinese Financial, Commercial, Light Industry, Textile and Tobacco Workers’ Union;

7.        National Committee of the Chinese Agricultural, Forestry and Water Conservancy Workers’ Union;

8.        All-China Federation of Railway Workers’ Unions;

9.        National Committee of the Chinese Aviation Workers’ Union;

10.    National Committee of the Chinese Banking Workers’ Union.

The supreme power organ of the Chinese trade unions is the National Congress of Trade Unions. It is convened once every five years. The 14^th National Congress of the Chinese Trade Unions was held in September 2003. Composed of 267 members, the Executive Committee is the power organ when the national congress is not in session, and it elects the chairman, vice-chairmen of the Executive Committee and members of the Presidium, thus forming the Presidium. When the Executive Committee is not in session, the Presidium comprising 39 members exercises its power. The Secretariat is set up under the Presidium and consists of a first secretary and a number of members who are elected from among the members of the Presidium. The Secretariat takes care of the routine work of the ACFTU.

Leading members of the 14^th Executive Committee of the ACFTU:

Chairman: Wang Zhaoguo

Vice-Chairpersons: Sun Chunlan, Sun Baoshu, Zhou Yuqing, Wang Dongjin,Su Liqing, Zhang Rongming(F),Wang Ruixiang, Xu Zhenhuan,Chen Xiurong(F),Xu Deming and Huang Yanrong(F).

First Secretary of the Secretariat: Sun Chunlan

Members of the Secretariat: Sun Baoshu, Zhou Yuqing, Su Liqing, Xu Zhenhuan,Xu Deming, Huang Yanrong, Zhang Mingqi, Zhang Qiujian(F) and Chen Rongshu.

Director of the ACFTU Auditing Committee: Dong Li

The Chinese trade unions take the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China as the fundamental criterion for their activities, conduct their work in an independent way and in accordance with relevant laws and the Constitution of the Chinese Trade Unions, and play an important role in the political, economic and social affairs of the country.

The fundamental task of the Chinese trade unions is to carry out the various social functions of the trade unions in line with the guiding principle of reflecting and safeguarding concrete interests of the workers and staff members in a better way while safeguarding the overall interests of the people throughout the whole country, and, united with the broad masses of workers and staff members, strive for the realization of China’s socialist modernization. The major social functions of the Chinese trade unions are as follows: (1) to protect the legitimate interests and democratic rights of the workers and staff members, (2) to mobilize and organize the workers and staff members to take part in the construction and reform and accomplish the tasks in the economic and social development, (3) to represent and organize the workers and staff members to take part in the administration of the State and social affairs and to participate in the democratic management of enterprises, (4) to educate the workers and staff members to constantly improve their ideological and moral qualities and raise their scientific and cultural levels.

The basic duty of the Chinese trade unions is to protect the legitimate rights and Interests of the workers and staff members. In the course of developing the socialist market economy, the Chinese trade unions, in accordance with the regulations of the State’s Labour law and other relevant laws, actively safeguard workers’ political rights, their right to work and their material and cultural interests; participate in coordinating labour relations and regulating social contradictions and make efforts to promote the economic development and a long-term social stability of the country.

In their international affairs, the Chinese trade unions extensively develop friendly relations with the trade union organizations of various countries on the basis of the principles of independence, equality, mutual respect and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs and irrespective of the differences in ideology and their international affiliations, for world peace, development, workers’ rights and interests as well as social progress together with the workers and trade unions all over the world. Now the Chinese trade unions have established relations with more than 400 national trade union centres of over 130 countries.