At the end of 1999, the trade union only had 87 million members. By the end of 2001, the union wishes to count 120 million members.

The goal for the next two years is set at 130 million and 140 million respectively.

ACFTU officials said attracting more workers into trade unions has been a top priority in recent years.

"We have achieved some accomplishments in this endeavour and in the following years, the effort will be continued," said Xie Liangmin, an official with ACFTU's Law Department.

According to Xie, during the planned economy period, most enterprises were State-owned and nearly all workers were trade union members.

However, with reforms and opening-up, ownership of enterprises in China has been diversified and many private and foreign enterprises have been set up.

The old version of the trade union law failed to specify that these new enterprises should have trade unions.

Since 1978, when almost all workers were trade union members, the number of members has gradually decreased.

In 1995, the number of trade union members dropped to 103 million. The declining trend only turned to the better last year.

Xie said many foreign and private entrepreneurs were worried that trade unions would negatively affect their businesses.

Such a misunderstanding has been one of many barriers hindering the development of union members among foreign and private enterprises.

Furthermore, the older version of the trade union law did not prescribe any punishments for enterprise owners who prevented their workers from participating in trade unions.

However, in recent years, the number of disputes between employers and employees in enterprises that have no trade unions have grown.

"It is necessary to develop trade unions in any enterprise and protect workers' legal rights," said Xie.

In this endeavour, the recently amended trade union law will be a powerful weapon, Xie said.

"The trade unions at higher levels are authorized to send union officials to enterprises and help them establish trade unions, and the enterprise sides have no right to interfere," Xie said.

The new law requires that an enterprise, organization or institution which employs more than 25 people could have a trade union.

(China Daily November 5, 2001)