The ILO/All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) Seminar on Changing Industrial Relations Environment and the Economic Crisis was held on 3 April 2014 in Beijing. 35 participants from 8 provinces reviewed the changing industrial relations environment and sought solutions to the common challenges.

The event coincided with the first visit of Maria Helena Andre, the Director of ILO Bureau for Workers' Activities (ACTRAV) to China. ILO-ACTRAV and ACFTU recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote South-South Cooperation between trade unions in the Asia- Pacific region.

Jiang Guangping, the Vice-Chairman and member of the Secretariat of ACFTU, reviewed the wide range of cooperation between ILO and ACFTU in the areas of employment, collective bargaining, and trade union rights in recent years. He said that ACFTU will further strengthen the cooperation with ILO under the framework of south-south cooperation.

Maria Helena Andre, the Director of ILO-ACTRAV, noted in her opening remarks that the economic crisis had worsened working conditions, led to precarious employment relationship, and brought more challenges to the employment of women and youth. She highlighted the need to create necessary framework of conditions for social dialogue and promote “social justice and decent work” as the basis of the new model of development.

Tim De Meyer, the Director of the ILO Country Office for China and Mongolia, welcomed the ACFTU’s commitment to promote collective bargaining as one of its top priorities to ensure workers’ fair share of the fruits of development. He emphasized the importance of legal frameworks for social dialogue (including collective labour dispute settlement) in ensuring protection of workers whose employment will be affected in the process of industrial upgrading and productivity enhancement.

Union representatives from Wal-Mart, Foxconn, Volkswagen and local sectoral unions shared experience with the participants.