国内英语新闻:China's national union to help 1 mln people find jobs in 2010

BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) said Monday it would work to help 1 million job-seekers find jobs this year, as well as provide vocational training for an additional 1 million people.

Also, the ACFTU will provide training and job opportunities for 200,000 housekeeping workers this year, said Li Shouzhen, spokesperson with the ACFTU, at a meeting of the national union's executive committee.

The ACFTU has launched a five-year campaign of vocational training to help improve the skills of workers, Li said.

The ACFTU has been working to protect migrant workers' rights and recovered 2.5 billion yuan (366.03 million U.S. dollars) of defaulted salaries for migrant workers in the first half of the year, Li said.

The national union, founded on May 1, 1925, had a membership of 169.94 million, with migrant workers accounting for 24.1 percent of the total, in 2007.

ACFTU chairman Wang Zhaoguo said at the meeting that trade unions at various levels should work to protect employee rights to ensure stability.

The meeting stressed the importance of the collective wage negotiation system and seeks to implement its use in wage discussions between businesses with trade unions by 2012.