The history of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU)

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ACFTU and Union Organizing
By Trini Leung, China Labour Bulletin, 26 April 2002. The ACFTU claims to be the world's largest union organization, but when workers do organize, they never go to the ACFTU. The leadership of this government-controlled body has recognized the need for its own reform to strengthen its credibility and effectiveness.
Confusion at the ILO? China's Government Elected to Governing Body as...Worker Delegate
International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) statement, 19 June 2002. A general consensus that the ACFTU is a component part of the Party/state power structure–i.e. the Chinese unions represent the state (backed by the army and police) and not the workers. The small majority vote at the ILO to admit the WFCTU will be seen as a softening of international labour's commitment to defending the right of Chinese workers to independent trade unions.
The ACFTU wins a seat in the ILO's Governing Body in June 2002
Editorial Note, China Labour Bulletin, 2 July 2002. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) won a seat as the deputy member in the Workers' Group of the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Governing Body in June 2002. This has sent a chill down the spines of union movements which have been championing the cause of independent and democratic unionism in China.
China trade union to allow direct election of shop leaders
Associated Press, 26 September 2003. China's sole official trade union, long dismissed as a tool of Communist Party authority, is drafting rules to let its members elect local union leaders directly—an apparent further step along the country's tentative path toward greater grass-roots democracy.
Trade union elections in Mainland China
ICFTU, [04] May 2004. The huge challenges facing the state-run trade union organisation in China. A crisis of legitimacy felt by some within the ACFTU. The direct election of trade union officials at plant level is regarded as an important—though hardly risk-free—method of rendering trade union officials more accountable to their members.
100 million peasant workers have not joined trade unions and there are four main violations of their rights
Asian Labour News, 10 November 2004. An ACFTU official has stated that there are two main difficulties in practicing the Trade Union Law in China. One of them is that there are still 100 millions peasant workers who have not joined trade unions.