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ILAB News Release: [10/10/2002]
Contact Name: Robert
Zachariasiewicz
Phone Number: (202) 693-4686
U.S. Labor Department to Provide Technical Assistance to
China on Labor Law, Worker Rights, and Mine Safety
WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao released
two grants today totaling $6.4 million to help worker protection and mine
safety and health in China.
Deputy Secretary of Labor Cameron Findlay said, “The Administration
is committed to improving workers rights globally, and we look forward to
working with our partners in China to enhance the rule of law and improve
compliance with internationally recognized workers’ rights and labor
standards.” Findlay serves as the Department of Labor’s appointee to
the joint Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC).
Through a competitive grant application and review process, the
department awarded a four-year, $4.1 million grant to a consortium of Worldwide
Strategies, Inc., the Asia Foundation, and the National Committee on United
States-China Relations. The consortium will conduct a series of education,
training and technical assistance activities to strengthen the Chinese
government’s capacity to develop laws and regulations to implement
internationally recognized workers rights, promote greater awareness of labor
law among Chinese workers and employers, strengthen industrial relations, and
improve legal aid services to women and migrant workers. The department also
awarded a four-year, $2.3 million grant to the National Safety Council to
improve safety and health conditions in Chinese coal mines, which have one of
the highest accident rates in the world.
Key members of Congress expressed their support for the projects. U.S.
Representative Doug Bereuter (R-Neb.), chairman of the House Subcommittees on
International Monetary Policy and Trade and co-chair of the CECC, emphasized,
“The Commission welcomes the news that the Department of Labor has
launched a forward-looking program that will go far toward implementing the
technical cooperation provisions on labor rights that the 106th
Congress passed in the PNTR legislation.”
These two grants are funded and managed through the International
Cooperation Program of the department’s Bureau of International Labor
Affairs.
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