Studies On Trade Unions’ Role In Building Harmonious Labour Relations

Labour relations are relations between labourers and labour force employers. Afterseveral decades’ impact of planning economy, labour relations in China are experiencing ahistorical transition, which gives rise to labour issues and shows influences on its resolution.The current labour relations have become wide concerned issues both of government andpeople, as they are not only related to the country’s economy and people’s living but alsoinvolved in the social stabilization. Different ownerships cause different characteristics oflabour relations. Any adjustment to labourers’ and employers’ status and rights and theirrelations should not ignore the fact of transition.Under the condition of socialist market economy, labour relations have been becomingmore and more varied, and an three-side interests structure of government, enterprises andlabourers has been formed. Changes in the economic foundation and social structure havegiven rise to different interests groups and have caused different interests claims. The massorganizations and interests groups, being the important representatives of public interests,often enjoy more discourse rights and have stronger expression ablity than individuals. Tradeunion, being the representatives of labourers, have become important components of labourrelations and are playing a very important role in representing labourers and adjusting labourrelations. Without trade union’ representing and maintaining labourers’ legal interests, steadylabour relations could not be established and maintained. So, the labour union’s functionshould be stressed in building harmonious labour relations.The paper is to study labour union’s role in building harmonious labour relations on thebasis of analysing the characteristics, background, development and factual representation ofsome elements of labour relations.The paper regards that trade union is important forces representing labourers in thestructure of labour relations. Facing the changes of labour relations, trade union should graspthe deep rule and realistic characteristics of the changes so as to maintain labourers’ rightsefficiently and build harmonious labour relations through taking measures in accordance withnational conditions under the leadership of the CPC.In contemporary China, the state-owned enterprises and private economy coexist. In thebuilding of harmonious labour relations, the role of trade union as representatives oflabourers and bridges between the Party, government and labourers is very clear, but theirwork is to develop multifacetedly to adapt to the transition and plurality. Trade union’ workincludes leading work and participating work. The leading work, which is related to thebuilding of harmonious labour relations, consists of the carrying out of the system of workers’participation in democratic management, the establishing of collective consultation andcollective contract system and the work of mutual helping and helping workers in difficulties.Besides the leading work, trade union should participate actively in the work both ofgovernment and other social organizations so as to play the role of labourers’ spokesman. Theparticipating work of trade union, laying emphasis on maintaining labourers’ rights and interests, mainly covers such areas as wage distribution, labour and employment, safety inproduction and social security. Once labourers’ rights and interests within these areas aredamaged, labour dispute is inevitable. The maintenance of labourers’ rights and interestsrequires efforts from government, enterprises and labourers themselves. The governmentshould strengthen supervision and management, the enterprises should change promptly theirprofit models, and the labourers should enhance their legal consciousness. And trade unionshould take their advantages and actively take part in related work.Facing new tasks and requirements, in the process of building harmonious labourrelations, trade union should change their work content and working methods and developlabour union theory in order to meet the needs of the situation. During this process, thefollowing questions are urgently to be studied and answered:1) how to undertake thehistorical mission of being the bridge between workers and the Party in the process ofchanging the Party ’s style of leadership and governance;2) how to change the work mode toadapt to the diversification of business ownership and labourer structure;3) how to adapt tothe developing needs of social plurality;4) how to adapt to the globalization and at the sametime maintain Chinese trade union’ characteristics in the development of international labourmovement.