Functional Research On The Trade Union Organizations At The Grass-roots In Hebei Province In A New Period

Grass-roots trade union is a mass organization established at the grassroots level with itsown independent status, specializing on safeguarding workers’ rights and interests locally andat grass-roots level. As an organization, it has its own unique features. It generally carries outthe functions of organizing staff training, participating in the democratic management,safeguarding specific interests of staff and so on. In the new era of global economicdevelopment, China’s economic system, economic structure, industrial structure adjustmentare progressively optimized through a series of readjustments and reforms. And in recentyears, the stockholding system reforms of state-owned enterprises and the recognition of newtype of labor relations lead to the current change of the distribution pattern. Following thesechanges, trade unions and grassroots trade union organizations have subsequently beenadjusted. The current gradual improvements of China’s market economy status make the roleof trade unions become more prominent. As an important part of the trade union, the role ofgrass-roots trade union organization is also growing. However, there are also some problemsin the process of exercising the functions of the grassroots trade union organizations, whichrestrict the development of the functions and need improvements urgently.At the present stage, Chinese scholars have made some achievements on the explorationin this regard, but due to the organization’s changing internal mechanisms and its functions inaddressing problems, the grass-roots trade unions’ process of exploration is also facing someproblems: More theoretical strategies were raised and more achievements were summarized,but there is still a lack of research on the systematic theories and analysis of specific problems,and the work carried out by the grass-roots trade union organizations is also not innovativeenough; There is much exploration on the apparent problems of the grass-roots trade unionorganizations, but it is still not clear how grass-roots trade union organizations carry out thework and what the content of the work is; What is more, the deeper parts such as the exertionof the grass-roots trade union’s functions and how to obtain effectiveness have not receivedenough attention, at present there is no exploration on these issues that is comprehensive,systematic and deep. Therefore, this paper commences from the relevant theories of thegrassroots trade unions, meant to change the mistaken view on grass-roots trade union organizations from tradition， carries out research on the performance status of the grass-rootstrade union organizations in Hebei Province, grasps a series of defects emerging during theperformance of the current grass-roots trade union organizations, identifies the causes of theseproblems and based on understanding, suggests solutions on how to ensure that grass-rootstrade unions obtain effectiveness when exerting their functions.This paper uses the example verification, generalization and summarization, empiricalresearch methods, clarifies the related concepts of trade union organizations, combs thedevelopment of grass-roots trade union organizations and the developing venation of theirfunction, demonstrates the achievements obtained by the grass-roots trade union organizationsin Hebei Province in the development process, and summarizes the series of problems arisingin the process of exercising functions, analyzes the shortcomings, and finally proposes tobreak dilemma and resolve contradiction.Part1-The related theoretical analysis of trade unions’ functions. Trade union is theproduct of conflicts in certain specific economic relationships in the process of socialdevelopment and its existence is closely related to the labor employment system. Itsemergence is to represent and safeguard the workers’ legal rights and interests. In trade union,its functions are inextricably linked to its nature; its work refers to both the economy and thesociety, it is not only an organization safeguarding workers’ rights but also an organizationparticipating in political management led by the Party. Therefore, the special status and natureof trade union also predestine the width and variety of its functions. Trade union mainlyengages in activities in the economic field, uses economic instruments to play its role, andformed its own unique constructive function, educational function, safeguarding function andparticipating function.Part2-Hebei grass-roots trade union organizations’ achievements in duty performance.The grass-roots trade union organization as an important part of trade unions plays animportant role in the aspects of legal assurance, staff education and democratic managementimprovement. The grass-roots trade union organizations in Hebei Province using serialregulatory documents as legal assurance form its own unique mechanism in staff education.With efforts from both of the government and trade unions, a package of staff trainingprograms are carried out, and appropriate incentive systems are established to enhance staff’s motivation. The staff requires the trade union organizations to implement democraticmanagement and protect their rights and interests, which is the focal point of trade union’swork.Part3–The problems arising during the performance of duties and the correspondingreasons. The work of grass-roots trade union organizations undeniably has its bright spots, butthere are still many problems in the development process since the founding of New China. Itshows concretely as follows: trade union organization’s severe administration; the absence ofa complete set of working mechanism; low efficiency and lack of vitality. To solve theseproblems, an analysis of its causes is particularly necessary. Specifically speaking, thecomposition of staff in trade union organizations is relatively complex, the majority of themhave more than one job and it is difficult to put all the energy into union work. In the tradeunion work, there has not formed a complete and scientific working mechanism. The purposeof work in the trade union is not very clear and the original intention of trade union’sexistence is forgotten.Part4–The response to the problems of Hebei grass-roots trade union organizationsduring performance of their duties. While fulfilling their functions, a series of problemsoccurred in the grass-roots trade union organizations, which requires us to confront the issues,carry out a series of reforms to the trade union organizations based on the causes of theproblems, and enable them to meet the requirements of the new era of economic developmentand social advancement. Firstly, we should accurately fix the position of trade unions andmake them become an independent institution while carrying out work. Secondly, the staff intrade union organizations staff should recognize their responsibilities to help the workingmasses and effectively represent their interests. Thirdly, the trade union organizations in theperformance of their duties should improve the staff’s perception and way of working andestablish a working mechanism that is consistent with the market economic system in order toprovide more perfect service. Lastly, we should attach importance to the training programmesprovided by the staff at trade unions and make the whole trade union organization become adepartment that services the masses effectively.Grass-roots trade union as an important component element of the trade unionorganization system and the vanguard of the trade union while performing its functions does not only need to confront and deal with various emergent problems but also to find anapproach that is suitable for China’s economic and social development when solving theproblems. Based on these, the paper proposes an idea to improve union functions and carriesout detailed analysis in four aspects-working focus of the grassroots, staff motivation,relationship between the government and trade unions as well as improvement of trade unionorganizations, expecting it to make an important impact.