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OPA News Release: [06/24/2004]
Contact Name: Lisa
Kruska
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao Outlines
Accomplishments of High-Level U.S. Department of Labor Delegation to China
Four-Day Trip of
High-Ranking U.S. Labor Officials Highlights Expanded Efforts to Strengthen
Worker Protections
BEIJING—U.S. Secretary
of Labor Elaine L. Chao outlined the accomplishments of the U.S. Department of
Labor (DOL) delegations’ four-day trip to China today in a joint press
conference with U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans. The news conference was held
at the Marriott Renaissance Hotel.
Secretary Chao’s trip included the signing of four letters of
understanding between the U.S. Department of Labor and The People’s
Republic of China (PRC) that broaden cooperation between the two countries in
the areas of labor, employment rights, workplace safety, and help promote
internationally recognized core labor standards in China. During the four-day
trip, discussions were also conducted about
The Rule of Law Project and a mine health and safety
project.
“The agreements signed on this trip are the next step in the Labor
Department’s ongoing efforts to work with China to promote internationally
recognized core labor standards,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L.
Chao. “These agreements will help Chinese officials develop the
institutional capacity to improve working conditions and raise standards of
living for Chinese workers. They address improvements in the areas of worker
safety and health along with the regulation and enforcement of wage and pension
laws, and the rule of law. In addition, today I am announcing that the Labor
Department will direct $3.5 million to China to help combat HIV/AIDS through
workplace-related education programs this year.”
Secretary Chao is the first U.S. Secretary of Labor to visit the
People’s Republic of China since 1988 and only the third U.S. Secretary of
Labor to visit China in history. Underscoring the importance that the U.S.
delegation places on working with the People’s Republic of China on Labor
issues, the Secretary’s delegation included the Assistant Secretary for
Employment Standards Victoria A. Lipnic; Ann L. Combs, Assistant Secretary of
the Employment Benefits Administration; Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and
Health David D. Lauriski; and John L. Henshaw, Assistant Secretary for the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The Secretary and the U.S. Department of Labor delegation also toured a
U.S. manufacturing plant, Beijing Johnson Controls Inc., operating in China.
Secretary Chao noted that jobs are being created in the United States when
American products and services are used for the vast Chinese markets. The
Secretary’s delegation also toured a women’s migrant training
facility and visited Langfang Children’s village, an American-funded
orphanage that serves special-needs children.
In the first two letters of understanding, Ann L. Combs, Assistant
Secretary Employee Benefits Administration, and Victoria A. Lipnic, Assistant
Secretary for Employment Standards, U.S. DOL, signed with Liu Xu, Director
General for International Affairs at the Ministry of Labor and Social Security
(MOLSS), PRC. The letters of understanding establish a framework for the two
countries to discuss the regulation, administration and oversight of pension
programs through mutually agreed cooperative activities. Also outlined are
additional activities in the area of wage and hour law administration. The
agencies intend to broaden their cooperation in the areas of wage and hour
regulations and enforcement, compliance assistance and public awareness of wage
and hour laws, and effective management and analysis of wage and hour
enforcement data.
The third and fourth letters of understanding will focus on new joint
cooperation in the areas of occupational safety and mine safety and health.
Signing for the U.S. Department of Labor was John Henshaw, Assistant Secretary
for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Dave D. Lauriski,
Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health. Signing for the People’s
Republic of China was Lin Yisheng, Deputy Director General for Department of
Foreign Affairs, in the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS). In the area
of occupational safety and health, the letter of understanding outlines new
cooperative efforts between the two countries including: regulation and
inspection relating to the handling and distribution of hazardous chemicals;
emergency response procedures in workplace accidents; private insurance
programs in the promotion of workplace safety and health; and effective
collection and analysis of occupational safety and health data. The fourth
letter of understanding highlights mine safety issues, including: emergency
response procedures for mine accidents and incidents and the effective
collection and analysis of mine safety and health data.
The agreements broaden the ongoing cooperation between the U.S. DOL and
its counterparts in the PRC MOLSS and SAWS. Through these agreements, there
will be an exchange of officials, experts and information. The agencies
reaffirmed their common objectives—as stated in previous
agreements—to foster economic growth and raise living standards for
workers; support widely-shared prosperity; foster safe working environments for
workers; and foster workers rights in accordance with relevant international
labor principles while fully respecting the national laws of both the United
States and China.
The U.S. Department of Labor also announced a $3.5 million grant to help
combat HIV/AIDS through workplace-related education programs. The funds are
part of the $9.5 million grant from the DOL to the International Labor
Organization (ILO) that supports these types of programs worldwide. The project
in China is designed to educate workplaces about the standards of healthcare
associated with persons living and working with HIV/AIDS. The Chinese
Ministries of Labor, Social Security and Health, working with the ILO and the
U.S. Department of Labor, will develop information to educate workers on the
prevention of HIV/AIDS.
Through a $4.1 million grant, the U.S. DOL has already been
collaborating with Chinese officials in the development of
The Rule of Law Project. The rapid
growth of private investment in China’s economy during the past 10 years
has far outpaced the government’s ability to set up effective industrial
relations systems to manage a range of new workplace issues. In response, the
U.S. Department of Labor, through a consortium of implementing organizations,
is assisting the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in China to more
effectively address workers rights issues in a market economy.
In addition to the $4.1 million Rule of Law grant, the U.S. DOL working
with the Chinese State Administration for Work Safety also funded a $2.3
million grant in late 2002 to enhance Mine Safety and Health in China. As the world’s largest
coal producer with rudimentary safety and health mechanisms in place, China has
experienced a high number of worker deaths in their coal mines. The U.S.
Department of Labor is working with relevant government bodies to develop mine
rescue techniques and institutionalize the systematic training of government
and mine personnel in those techniques; to strengthen the capacity of
government personnel to promote and enforce workplace safety and health laws in
Chinese mines; to train miners and mine operators in safe operational methods
and practices; and to develop pilot projects to demonstrate the benefits of
safer techniques in mines.
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