About 62 million farmer-turned workers in China, or more than
half of the total, had joined trade unions by the end of last
month, said vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade
Unions Sun Chunlan on Thursday.
Trade unions across the country have taken measures to enroll
more farmer-turned workers in recent years so that their interests
and rights were better protected, said Sun.
Thirty-two million farmer-turned workers have been insured
against industrial injury and 27 million had been covered in
medical insurance by the end of July, Sun said.
There were 23 million farmer-turned workers in China's trade
unions at the end of 2005.
The formation of trade unions in the Wal-Mart outlets in China
last year was a major breakthrough in expanding trade unions for
better protection of workers' rights in overseas-funded companies
in China.
(Xinhua News Agency October 19, 2007)