Confidence, cooperation and responsibility are indispensable for defeating the global financial crisis, as well as common reactions from every single country in the world and the international community, since this is a challenge to the entire world. In order to better protect the rights and interests of workers who are severely impacted by the global financial crisis, the ACFTU makes the following proposals:

First, accelerate the economic growth and achieve common development. Development is the premise and linchpin for responding to challenges and solving problems. For the time being, it is the priority for all the countries in the world to overcome the financial crisis and promote economic growth. The global financial crisis has brought about severe difficulties and negative impacts to all the countries, including a great number of laboring people. Therefore, only the economic growth will promote sustainable development, and only the all-round economic and social development will ensure the real protection of legitimate rights and interests of workers. The developed countries should take more active measures to promote economic development, and the relevant measures must not harm the interests of developing countries. The developed countries should take up more responsibilities, including opening market to developing countries, increasing aids and technological transfers, and further promote common development of the world countries, developing countries included.

Second, safeguard the rights and interests of workers and ensure their decent work. Workers and staff members are the major force accelerating economic and social development. The more difficulties we face, the more work we should do to put workers' interests first and the greater attention we should pay to caring for workers and ensuring their wellbeing, so that workers' rights and interests can be earnestly protected in the process of promoting development. Employment is of crucial importance to people's wellbeing, and it is the foundation for safeguarding and developing rights and interests of workers. At a difficult time when crisis-related layoffs and unemployment are increasing, it is more important and pressing than anytime ever to protect the employment right of workers. We will vigorously encourage other countries in the world to take more proactive employment policies and effectively safeguard the employment right of workers. We will work hard to stimulate employment and re-employment and do everything we can to ensure the existing jobs of workers. We will further strengthen to provide employment support and trainings for business startups while reducing unemployment, expanding employment and guiding business startups. As an embodiment of the spirit of times, decent work is part and parcel of respecting and protecting human rights. While stimulating employment, we will work hard to ensure workers' wages, increase social security, improve security and sanitary conditions in working places, protect workers' economic rights and promote to practice decent work. In order to spread decent work among workers and staff members, we will try our best to protect their interests and rights, continuously improve their working conditions, incomes, insurance, and quality of life, so that more workers can share in the fruits of economic and social development.

Third, enhance social dialogues and collaborate to overcome difficulties. Harmonious labor relations constitute the foundation for handling the current crisis and protecting rights and interests of workers. Trade unions need to strengthen coordination and cooperation with relevant social partners, in that it is an important measure to protect workers' interests and an important way to accelerate harmonious labor relations. Trade unions at all levels should actively carry out the Common Engagement Initiative with enterprises and workers, supervising and urging enterprises to stabilize existing jobs, timely pay salaries and social insurance premiums for their workers, and increase efforts to provide job trainings. A good atmosphere will therefore be formed where enterprises and workers care about each other and discuss with each other the future development of enterprises. Trade unions should actively accelerate the establishment of a series of sound systems, including three-party consultation, collective negotiation and workers' participation in democratic management, etc., and conduct multi-level dialogues in diverse forms with relevant organizations, especially strengthening communication and coordination with enterprises so as to work out effective plans to get though difficult situations and be reenergized to forge ahead. Social partners from all the countries in the world should continuously increase their efforts to promote social dialogues, solve labor-related problems through consultation on equal footing, build harmonious and stable labor relations and work hard and collaboratively to overcome difficulties for a win-win situation.

Fourth, intensify exchanges and cooperation and achieve mutual benefits and win-win progress. No country can stay immune from the current global financial crisis and all parties, including trade union organizations, should further strengthen coordination and communication in concerted efforts to tide over bad times. We should effectively enhance the right of participation and the right to speak of developing countries and their trade unions when responding to the global financial crisis. We need to exchange with each other good practices and new experience, including those of protecting rights and interests of workers. All countries in the world should uphold the values of openness, cooperation and mutual benefits while opposing any form of protectionism, and turn pressure into motivation and challenges into opportunities, thus creating a favorable condition for world economy to recover from difficult situations.

(The author is Director of International Liaison Department of All-China Federation of Trade Unions, Councillor of China Society for Human Rights Studies.)

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