Reform of the construction of industrial workers in the new era:
Challenges, rules and solutions
Research Group of Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions
Originally published: Research on Trade Union Theory, No. 6, 2023
pp. 4-15
[Abstract] At present, the global industrial transformation, industrial transformation and upgrading, population development situation, and the existing bottleneck problems have posed new challenges to the construction of industrial workers in mainland China. The construction of industrial workers must promote each other with industrial development, must follow the general laws of market economy, must be consistent with the history and reality of the country, must build an education and training system that effectively serves the needs of industrial development, must realize the pluralistic participation of social subjects, and must have a solid institutional guarantee. In order to deepen and promote the reform of the construction of industrial workers in the new era, it is necessary to strengthen political and ideological guidance, focus on building a system for the formation and improvement of industrial workers' skills, broaden career development channels, build a platform for making contributions, promote the orderly participation of industrial workers in social and corporate governance, effectively strengthen the protection of the rights and interests of industrial workers, and continuously enhance the sense of gain, happiness and security of industrial workers.
[Keywords] industrial worker team construction reform, challenges, laws, countermeasures
[Funds] This article is the research result of the 2022 "Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions on Deepening the Reform of the Construction and Reform of the Industrial Worker Team". Authors: Yang Yibo, Lecturer of the Teaching Department of Shanghai Vocational College of Trade Union Management, Wu Jibo, Director of the Research Department of Shanghai Vocational College of Trade Union Management, and Wang Zonghui, Director of the Research Office of Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions.
When participating in the discussion of the Guangxi delegation to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We cannot look down on industrial workers. To build modernization, we must grasp the manufacturing industry and engage in the real economy. We must change our concepts and vigorously train industrial workers. "The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly stated that more masters, strategic scientists, first-class scientific and technological leaders and innovative teams, young scientific and technological talents, outstanding engineers, great craftsmen, and high-skilled talents should be cultivated. In order to fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, according to the deployment of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions set up a research group, held a symposium with relevant functional departments of the government, listened to the opinions of the chairmen of some district bureaus (industry) trade unions, carried out expert interviews, and formed a research report on deepening the construction and reform of the industrial worker team in the new era in combination with the research and supervision of the construction and reform of the industrial worker team in Shanghai.
First, the construction of the contingent of industrial workers on the mainland is facing new challenges
(1) Industrial transformation and upgrading pose new challenges to the construction of industrial workers
1. To promote the development of the real economy, it is urgent to build a large team of industrial workers. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that the construction of a modern industrial system, adhere to the focus of economic development on the real economy, and accelerate the construction of a manufacturing power and a quality power. The real economy is the lifeblood of the mainland's economy, an important support for building strategic advantages for future development, and the foundation for the mainland to win the initiative in international competition. The mainland's economic aggregate ranks second in the world, but the problems of being large but not strong and large but not excellent in many fields are still prominent, and the situation in which key core technologies are controlled by others has not fundamentally changed. To strengthen and optimize the real economy and promote the high-quality development of the real economy, we must build the support of human resources for the real economy. Industrial workers are the main force in building the real economy and the backbone of creating social wealth. A grand contingent of industrial workers who have ideals, keep beliefs, understand technology, can innovate, dare to take responsibility and stress dedication is the basic support for the sustainable development and growth of the real economy, and the fundamental guarantee for realizing the focus of economic development on the real economy.
2. The scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation urgently require industrial workers to improve their skills and quality. In recent years, strategic emerging industries such as a new generation of information technology have developed rapidly, future industries such as brain-like intelligence have been emerging, and the manufacturing industry has accelerated the trend of integration, digital intelligence, chain, green, and customization. According to the statistics of the Wind database, from the perspective of manufacturing digitalization, from 2015 to 2022, the scale of the mainland's digital economy increased from 18.6 trillion yuan to 50.2 trillion yuan, and the share of GDP increased from 27% to 41.5%, of which the proportion of industrial digitalization in the digital economy also increased from 74.3% in 2015 to 81.7% in 2022. In 2022, the density of robots in the mainland manufacturing industry will reach 392 units per 10,000 people, an increase of 16 times compared with 2012. The scientific and technological revolution, industrial transformation and the transformation of the manufacturing industry have had a dual impact on the industrial workforce. On the one hand, "machine substitution" is unstoppable, informatization, automation and digital intelligence are replacing jobs with repetitive and stylized characteristics, and even literary and artistic creation, psychological counseling and other fields have begun to be encroached upon by robots. On the other hand, technological change has also shown a strong "enabling effect", constantly creating new jobs, and making important changes in the working environment, work nature, work content, and work efficiency of industrial workers. To meet the challenge of "machine substitution" and embrace the opportunity of "technology empowerment", industrial workers must improve their skills and quality to meet the needs of scientific and technological progress and industrial development.
3. The continued development of the service sector has exacerbated the mobility of the industrial workforce. Since the reform and opening up, the volume of the mainland's service industry has continued to expand, and the structure has been continuously optimized. From 1979 to 2022, the share of the service sector in the mainland's GDP rose from 22.3% to 52.8%, and the proportion of service workers in the total employed population increased from 12.6% to 47.2%. From the perspective of developed countries, the service sector accounted for 80.9% of GDP in the United States in 2022, 81.4% in the United Kingdom, 72.2% in Germany, and 72.8% in Japan. According to the trend of economic development, compared with Germany, Japan and other manufacturing powers, the mainland's service industry still has about 15 percentage points of room for growth in the future, and the service industry's ability to absorb employment will continue to expand. How to follow the law of development of the labor market, promote the rational flow of industrial workers, and maintain the stability of the contingent of industrial workers is a topic that must be studied and solved in the construction of the contingent of industrial workers.
(2) The situation of population development poses new challenges to the construction of industrial workers
1. The gradual loss of the demographic dividend has an adverse impact on the size and base of the industrial workforce. According to the data of the seventh national population census, from 2010 to 2020, although the population size of the mainland increased from 1.340 billion to 1.412 billion, the average annual growth rate of the total population was only 5.25 per thousand, a decrease of 0.44 thousand points from the average annual growth rate of 5.69 per thousand from 2000 to 2010. The natural growth rate of the mainland's population decreased from 7.43 per thousand in 2012 to -0.60 per thousand in 2022. At the same time, the size of the working-age population aged 15-59 has decreased from 940 million in 2010 to 894 million in 2020, accounting for 63.35% of the total population, and the size of the elderly population over 60 years old has increased from 178 million in 2010 to 264 million in 2020, and the proportion of the total population has increased from 13.26% to 18.70%. The above data shows that the "demographic dividend" based on population and labor size in the traditional sense of the mainland is gradually disappearing, and the process of this disappearance is accelerating. In order to build a manufacturing power, the mainland urgently needs a large-scale and high-quality industrial worker army, but the rapid decline in the total population, especially the working-age population, will undoubtedly reduce the supply of industrial workers and affect the scale of the industrial worker team in the future.
2. The education level and skill quality level of the population cannot meet the needs of industrial transformation and development. According to the seventh national population census, the average number of years of schooling for people aged 15 and above in mainland China in 2020 was 9.91 years. From the perspective of developed countries, in 2020, the average number of years of schooling per capita reached 13.4 years in the United States, 14 years in the United Kingdom, 14.4 years in Australia, and 13.1 years in France. At the same time, in 2021, the total number of skilled talents in the mainland will exceed 200 million, of which more than 60 million are high-skilled talents, and high-skilled talents account for about 30% of skilled talents, while the proportion of senior technicians in Japan and Germany will reach 40% and 50% respectively. The overall low education level of the population and the skills and quality of workers will greatly restrict the transformation and upgrading of the mainland's manufacturing industry to the direction of high-end. How to earnestly improve the level of education and skill quality of the laborers has become an urgent task facing the construction of the contingent of industrial workers on the mainland.
(3) The global industrial transformation has posed new challenges to the construction of industrial workers
1. The implementation of the manufacturing reshoring strategy in developed economies has put forward higher requirements for the improvement of labor productivity of mainland industrial workers. In recent years, major developed economies have vigorously pursued the strategy of reshoring manufacturing, especially in high-tech industries and high-end manufacturing. In 2021, the U.S. Congress passed the Endless Frontier Act, which proposes to invest in basic and advanced research, commercialization, education, and training in ten key areas such as artificial intelligence, and President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 in 2022 to encourage companies to develop and manufacture chips in the United States. In April 2020, Japan held an economic growth strategy meeting to make strategic plans for domestic investment support measures and the establishment of decentralized supply chains. As early as 2013, Germany put forward the "Industry 4.0" strategy, focusing on the deep integration of a new generation of information technology and traditional manufacturing. At present, the mainland's manufacturing industry as a whole is still large but not strong, and it is mainly at the middle and low end of the value chain in the global industrial division of labor pattern, and the labor productivity is only about 1/5 of that of developed countries. The strategy of reshoring manufacturing in developed countries poses pressure and challenges to the implementation of the strategy of manufacturing power in the mainland, and the mainland must build a team of high-quality industrial workers, improve labor productivity in the field of manufacturing, win competitive advantages with talent advantages, and realize the transformation from following and running to leading.
2. The "decoupling and breaking the chain" and "stuck" methods of Western countries require stimulating the stronger innovation vitality of mainland industrial workers. At present, the trend of anti-globalization is rising, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, the security of the industrial chain and the resilience of the supply chain have received more attention, and localization, near-shoring, regionalization and diversification have become new trends in the development of the global industrial chain and supply chain. In order to contain China's rise, Western countries represented by the United States do not hesitate to suppress the mainland's development in cutting-edge science and technology and industrial fields through political means such as "stuck" and industrial chain transfer. The United States has added a "China guardrail" clause to the "CHIPS Act" to restrict and block the advanced manufacturing capabilities of international semiconductor companies in China; the United States has also led a group of countries to establish the "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework" in an attempt to transfer supply chains from China to U.S. political allies through so-called "friendly shore trade". In the face of the heightened hostility of the developed countries and the rise of external risks and uncertainties, the mainland should all the more speed up the realization of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance. Industrial workers are the backbone of innovation-driven development, and they should take breaking through the "stuck neck" problem as the starting point, vigorously stimulate the vitality of innovation and creativity, and fight the battle of economic and technological security.
3. The mainland's traditional comparative advantage in the global value chain is gradually weakening, and the industrial workforce urgently needs to create new competitive advantages. With the gradual decline of the mainland's labor force population, the mainland's traditional advantages based on labor costs in the global industrial chain value chain are also weakening. Developing countries represented by Vietnam and India are actively expanding their opening up to the outside world, and their influence in the global low-end manufacturing industry is rising. The mainland is between the high-end industrial chain dominated by the developed economies and the low-end industrial chain of the emerging developing countries. To this end, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of industrial workers, improve the skills and quality of industrial workers, achieve breakthroughs in key technologies and key fields as soon as possible, promote the high-end development of mainland industries, and enhance international competitiveness.
(4) The bottleneck problem of industrial workers poses new challenges to the construction of industrial workers
1. The overall status of industrial workers is not high, which weakens the social foundation for the construction of industrial workers. The lack of social recognition of industrial workers, the idea of "learning and excelling" still affects people's values and career outlook, and the phenomenon of young people not wanting to be industrial workers is relatively common; due to social concepts and other factors, the quality of students in the "track" of vocational education is much lower than that of the "track" of general education. At the same time, industrial workers lack self-identity. In the survey, many people reported that they became workers because they did not find other satisfactory jobs for the time being; some people would rather choose flexible employment methods such as special car drivers, food delivery workers, and couriers, rather than go to the front line to engage in operation work; and some old workers reported that the professional pride of becoming an "eighth-level worker" in the past is no longer there. In addition, the sense of ownership of industrial workers has been weakened. In the survey, it was found that some industrial workers failed to link their personal development with enterprise development, and many people felt confused about their future jobs and career development, and asked "do we still need industrial workers in the new era".
2. The career development channel of industrial workers is still not smooth enough. Some enterprises, especially state-owned enterprises, still maintain a dual-track management system that distinguishes between cadre personnel management and workers' labor management, and "workers can only be workers for life." At the same time, the horizontal communication is not smooth, and there is still no effective communication mechanism between skilled personnel and specialized technical personnel, and there is no management mechanism for the mutual connection and mutual conversion of the two channels of vocational skill levels and professional and technical positions. Although the state is promoting the integration of skills and technical certificates, the overall integration of skills and technical positions is not smooth. In addition, it is difficult to move across industries, and a considerable number of industrial workers are still gathered in low-tech sectors such as construction, catering, and low-end manufacturing, which are difficult to adapt to the needs of upgrading traditional industries and the development of emerging industries.
3. The protection of the rights and interests of industrial workers is not in place. The wages of industrial workers are still low, and the principle and mechanism of skill factor participation in the distribution need to be further implemented. Some enterprises have reported that "the treatment of the old eighth-level workers is the same as that of the factory director", but now even the highest level of skilled personnel are often only treated with middle-level managers, and there is a relatively large gap compared with professional and technical personnel. At the same time, social security for industrial workers is not yet perfect. The survey found that the participation rate of industrial workers in Shanghai is generally on the rise, but there are still some non-public enterprises that have missed or underpaid social insurance premiums. In addition, the occupational health of industrial workers still needs to be paid attention to, and some enterprises, especially labor-intensive enterprises, have an imperfect labor and employment system, basically do not implement the statutory rest and vacation system, and the safety production environment is relatively poor.
2. Analysis of the law of the construction of industrial workers
(1) The construction of industrial workers must promote each other with industrial development
The scientific and technological and industrial revolution has liberated human labor and promoted the development of the ranks of industrial workers, and the innovation and creation of industrial workers have promoted the development of science and technology and industry. In 1733, the watchmaker Kaye invented the weaving tool "shuttle", which greatly improved the labor efficiency of the weaving industry, and in 1764, the spinning worker Hargreaves invented the "Jenny spinning machine", which increased the labor efficiency of the spinning industry by eight times, and the repairman Watt's improvement of the steam engine directly promoted the first industrial revolution. Historical experience shows that major technological innovation requires a process from quantitative change to qualitative change, and the labor practice of industrial workers is the basis for qualitative change. At present, digital technology represented by artificial intelligence is promoting a new round of industrial transformation, and developed countries are generally linking skill training with industrial development. For example, in 2019, the United Kingdom introduced the required digital skills certificate and established a lifelong education system for digital skills, the U.S. Department of Labor launched the "Occupational Information Network (O*NET)" system in 1998 to continue to provide real-time and forward-looking support for job and vocational research in the United States, and Germany uses big data and artificial intelligence to assess the skills needed in the future through initiatives such as "Qualification and Career Field Prediction (QuBe)". The mainland must also pay close attention to the development direction of high-end, intelligent and green industries, pay attention to the future industrial development trend, strengthen forward-looking research on industrial transformation and upgrading and the construction of industrial workers, and lay out the construction of industrial workers in advance to provide talent support for industrial transformation and upgrading.
(2) The construction of the contingent of industrial workers must follow the general laws of the market economy
In essence, the construction of industrial workers belongs to the category of human resource development under the conditions of modern market economy, and is an equilibrium achieved through a large number of games among multiple subjects such as the government, enterprises, and industrial workers. From the government's point of view, the government should provide public policy support, create a fair and just market environment, and guide market players to participate in the construction of industrial workers. From the perspective of enterprises, their investment and development of human resources is always a high-cost, high-risk process, enterprises in vocational education and training decision-making often take a more cautious attitude, generally will not be for the general skills of employees training, often only for the enterprise needs special needs and through the market recruitment and difficult to obtain special skills training. From an individual's point of view, whether or not they choose to participate in training, what kind of training program they choose, and even whether they choose to leave the company, also depends on their judgment of opportunity costs and potential benefits. At present, the skill training, skill level and wage income of many employees are not linked, and the market law of more skilled people is not reflected, coupled with the employment status of dispatch and outsourcing, so that their sense of belonging to the enterprise is not strong, and the enthusiasm for participating in training to improve skills is not high. In order to increase the willingness of enterprises and workers to invest in human capital, and then move the original equilibrium to a higher level of equilibrium, a key measure is to provide sufficient incentives for enterprises and workers to hedge the costs and uncertainties caused by training, which is why many Western countries have vigorously implemented training subsidies. For example, in 2015, the Obama administration set annual funding for apprenticeships at the federal level for the first time, and the Trump and Biden administrations have continued to support the expansion of apprenticeship strategies. To promote the construction of industrial workers, the mainland should also follow the laws of the market, improve the pertinence of policies, and stimulate the endogenous motivation of market players to invest in the development of human resources. For example, in view of the current low income of industrial workers and the reluctance of many industrial workers to continue to be industrial workers, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences weighed and pointed out that it is necessary to take measures such as improving labor productivity, reasonably increasing the proportion of workers' remuneration, improving the division of labor in the global value chain, building a unified labor market system, and strengthening the protection of workers' rights and interests in line with international standards, so as to build a reasonable labor-capital income distribution relationship.
(3) The construction of the contingent of industrial workers must be consistent with the history and reality of the country
The construction of industrial workers is closely related to a country's political system, social system, education system, cultural tradition, historical development, value identity and other factors. For example, the skill formation system of industrial workers in Germany, which is characterized by the "dual system", has been gradually formed, continuously improved, and evolved with the development of the German labor movement since the end of the 19th century. Another example is that the political, economic, and social systems of the United States are based on liberal ideology, and the skill formation system of industrial workers in the United States also shows a strong liberal color, presenting a skill formation system dominated by the interests of employers and replacing skills. Due to the differences in history, culture, and systems between different countries, it is difficult to succeed in simply copying foreign experiences and practices. In promoting the building of the contingent of industrial workers, while learning from the successful experiences of foreign countries, the mainland must also combine the history and reality of the mainland and innovate policies, paths, and methods to form a model for the building of the contingent of industrial workers with Chinese characteristics.
(4) The construction of industrial workers must build an education and training system that effectively serves the needs of industrial development
The most important and fundamental issue in the construction of the industrial worker team is education. Realizing the integration between different levels of vocational education and the integration between vocational education and general education is an important way to strengthen front-end training, consolidate the talent base and improve the echelon construction. At present, many vocational education majors are backward, teaching materials are backward, and education methods are backward, and the students they train cannot meet the needs of the industry, and many students are unwilling to go to vocational schools. To promote vocational education and training, it is also necessary to establish the concept of talent development in the whole career cycle, and promote industrial workers to adapt to the needs of industrial development, reform and upgrading. In view of the weak attractiveness of vocational education in the mainland, Liu Yuanchun of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics believes that on the one hand, it is necessary to improve the flow and matching efficiency of the labor market and fully realize the labor return of vocational education; on the other hand, it is necessary to optimize the quality of vocational education, improve the training system, and do a good job in docking and leading the market demand. The practices of developed countries in the West in the field of vocational education and training are also worth learning from. The United States has vigorously promoted STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education at all levels of education, and established a credit transfer mechanism between community colleges and ordinary universities. In Germany, the vocational education model based on the apprenticeship system, the experimental secondary school at the secondary education stage, and the vocational and technical school at the post-secondary education stage, often establish close ties with enterprises. The mainland should also build a three-dimensional education system, better coordinate the relationship between type education and level education, pre-vocational education and post-vocational education, school education and enterprise training, and build an overpass for the formation and improvement of industrial workers' skills.
(5) The construction of the industrial worker team must realize the pluralistic participation of social subjects
The construction of the industrial worker team involves multiple subjects such as government departments, industry organizations, social organizations, enterprises, and individuals, and each subject needs to perform its own duties and participate together. The state must strengthen top-level design and build a system of policies and regulations for the education, training and development of industrial workers that is suitable for industrial development. From the perspective of the relevant functional departments of the government, it is necessary to give full play to the advantages of the department according to the top-level design of the country, earnestly perform the functions of the department, break the barriers of departmental interests, and form a joint force for the construction of the industrial worker team. From the perspective of enterprises, as the basic unit of economic activities, they are the most sensitive to the trend of industrial development, and are the direct demand side of industrial workers' skills, and should play a major role in skill investment, skill use, and skill evaluation. From the perspective of society, it is necessary to give full play to the role of industrial industry associations, sort out the needs of the industry and industry enterprises, standardize the remuneration and treatment, skill evaluation, personnel flow, and labor standards of industrial workers in the industry and industry, and actively create a social atmosphere in which labor is glorious, skills are valuable, and great is created. As the representative and defender of the interests of the industrial workers, the trade union should find out the pain points and needs of the construction of the industrial workers, actively represent the industrial workers, and effectively promote the development of industrial workers, safeguard the interests of industrial workers, and serve the needs of industrial workers. From the perspective of industrial workers themselves, it is necessary to establish the concept of lifelong learning, constantly improve the level of skills, and demonstrate the value of skills. Developed countries generally attach importance to the pluralistic participation of society in the construction of industrial workers. For example, apprentices, enterprises, trade unions, industry associations, chambers of commerce, and the government in Germany have formed a pattern of social cooperation with a clear division of labor and a coordinated and orderly structure in the construction of the industrial worker team; enterprises generally have the willingness to carry out training, and skill investment presents a very obvious enterprise-led and government-assisted responsibility sharing mechanism; trade unions and industry associations have a strong voice in the construction of the industrial worker team, and all walks of life generally carry out industrial collective bargaining, and the German employment market is characterized by a high degree of regulation. The mainland should also clarify the responsibilities of the government, the market, society, enterprises, individuals and other entities in the construction of the industrial worker team in light of its own reality, give full play to its advantages, make up for its shortcomings, and build a diversified participation model for the construction of the industrial worker team with Chinese characteristics.
(6) The construction of the industrial worker team must have a solid institutional guarantee
Laws and policies regulate the construction of industrial workers at the institutional level, and have an important guiding function for the behavior of participating subjects. In order to build an overall and efficient work pattern for the construction of industrial workers, it is necessary to emphasize the coordination, coupling, scientificity and coherence between departments and policies, and give full play to the guiding function of policies, the guarantee function of the rule of law, and the incentive function of the system. Developed countries often have very complete legal systems in the field of building industrial workers. Through the Federal Vocational Education Act, the Federal Vocational Education Promotion Act, and the Handicraft Regulations, combined with supporting laws such as the Regulation on the Qualification of Teachers in Enterprises and the vocational education laws of the states, Germany has comprehensively guaranteed the country's skill formation system in law. The United States passed the National Apprenticeship Act, which provides a comprehensive guarantee for the "registered apprenticeship", a model of integration of industry and education with American characteristics. At present, although the mainland has regulated the building of the contingent of industrial workers to a certain extent in laws and documents such as the "Trade Union Law," the "Vocational Education Law," and the "Constitution of the Chinese Trade Unions," on the whole, the various provisions are still relatively broad, and the binding role of the law is still rather vague on specific issues concerning the building of the contingent of industrial workers. Zuo Xuejin of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences pointed out that the front-line workers in the mainland's manufacturing industry are mainly migrant workers, and their employment is short-term, which makes enterprises reluctant to increase investment in worker training. He suggested that labor protection should be considered from the perspective of labor legislation, and that a "flexible and secure" labor market should be built by improving the basic social security system. Therefore, it is necessary to further strengthen the legal guarantee for the construction of the industrial worker team, ensure that industrial workers obtain social, economic and political status commensurate with their contributions, protect the right of industrial workers to obtain opportunities for personal growth and development, and promote multiple subjects to perform their duties and work together to create a good atmosphere in which the whole society respects knowledge, talents, labor and creation.
3. Countermeasures and suggestions for promoting the construction and reform of the industrial worker team in the new era
(1) Strengthen political and ideological guidance, educate and guide industrial workers to unswervingly listen to the party and follow the party
1. Party and government level: Construct a general pattern of propaganda and ideological work under the leadership of the party committee. It is suggested that the propaganda departments of party committees at all levels should give full play to their general functions and launch a number of outstanding film and television works, literary works, and drama works that reflect the style of the industrial workers every year through various positions such as news media, radio and television, network positions, newspapers and periodicals, and community resources, so as to promote the party's propaganda and education on innovative theories, advanced culture, revolutionary culture, and excellent traditional culture on a regular basis. It is suggested that the organization departments of party committees at all levels should do a good job in the study, education, and management of party members and industrial workers, and give play to the leading role of party members and industrial workers; and make efforts to discover and train advanced elements among ordinary industrial workers to join party organizations, so as to increase the proportion and quality of party members among industrial workers. Strengthen the guidance of industrial workers on the Internet civilization, and suggest that all government departments innovate the methods and methods of propaganda in the Internet era, and promote ideological propaganda and education work with excellent online content that is close to the actual life of industrial workers.
2. At the level of trade unions: strengthen the theoretical arming of employees, in-depth study, publicity and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the spirit of important meetings such as previous congresses and plenary sessions of the party, and organize experts, scholars and advanced model workers to carry out distinctive, down-to-earth, and popular propaganda activities. Vigorously carry forward the spirit of model workers, the spirit of labor and the spirit of craftsmen, promote the construction of model worker exhibition halls and craftsman exhibition halls, and promote the "three spirits" into parks, enterprises, schools and communities through various ways such as selecting advanced models of model workers and holding propaganda activities. Actively inherit the red gene of the trade union, and continue to give full play to the role of publicity, education and guidance of the red labor movement resources in various places. Cultivate and practice the core socialist values, carry out publicity and education activities on "labor creates happiness", and deepen the construction of social morality, professional ethics, family virtues, and personal morality with a focus on professional ethics. Build a staff cultural brand, with the theme of "Chinese Dream • Labor Beauty", create a series of staff cultural brands such as "May Day" special programs, and promote the construction of staff cultural positions such as the Workers' Cultural Palace and the Workers' Library.
3. Social level: create a "Red May" publicity brand, expand "May Day" to "May Day" and "Red May", carry out "factories, workers, labor movements" publicity, widely publicize the advanced deeds of front-line workers, model workers and craftsmen, and make full use of various platform carriers to form a serialized, thematic and branded publicity situation. All kinds of newspapers and publications, radio and television, online platforms, buses and subways, outdoor large screens, publicity windows and other publicity positions should carry out public welfare publicity with the theme of "labor and laborers" in the main time, main layout and main location, so as to display the image of industrial workers in the new era in an all-round way.
4. At the enterprise level: encourage enterprises to organize and carry out the selection and commendation of "the most beautiful workers" and reward innovative creators, so as to solidly cultivate a corporate culture of respecting front-line workers, advocating labor, advocating model workers, and advocating craftsmen. Promote the construction of a high-quality contingent of industrial workers in ideological and political work, promote the allocation of state-owned enterprises with strong political work cadres, and encourage non-public enterprises to allocate a certain number of full-time and part-time party affairs personnel in light of actual conditions. Build a multi-layer and multi-level publicity and education carrier for the enterprise, make full use of the enterprise network platform, publicity window, mobile media, display screen and other carriers to carry out publicity and education activities, especially to improve the normalized learning system of the innovation team, so that the people around them can educate the people around them.
(2) Build a system for the formation and improvement of industrial workers' skills, and cultivate a large team of skilled industrial workers
1. Party and government level: Strengthen planning and guidance, and timely issue forward-looking and guiding industry guidelines, new technology guidelines, labor market guidelines and industry wage guidelines. It is proposed to extend the 9-year compulsory education to 12 years of compulsory education to cope with the challenges of the mainland's population facing an inflection point and the acceleration of population aging. Promote the construction of a modern vocational education system, scientifically lay out the construction of secondary vocational colleges, higher vocational colleges and applied universities, promote the training of secondary vocational, junior college, undergraduate, professional master's and professional doctors, promote the connection between vocational education and general education, and promote the in-depth cooperation between vocational colleges, applied universities and enterprises, especially large enterprises leading in the industry. Promote vocational skills training, build a government-led, multi-participatory, and multi-input incentive mechanism for skill cultivation, stimulate the enthusiasm of enterprises to carry out vocational skills training, establish a socialized vocational skills training access, evaluation, and support mechanism, promote the participation and distribution of skill elements to make substantive breakthroughs, implement overseas training programs for high-skilled leading talents and talents in short supply of excellent industrial technology, and increase subsidies for industrial workers, especially high-skilled talents, to participate in various skills training. Actively improve the digital skills of industrial workers, and develop digital skills qualifications for industrial workers. Deepen the integration of industry and education and school-enterprise cooperation, build an industry-education consortium with the functions of talent training, innovation and entrepreneurship, and promoting the high-quality development of the industrial economy on the basis of industrial parks, focus on key industries and fields to form a cross-regional industry-education integration community with the participation of schools, scientific research institutions, upstream and downstream enterprises, etc., and promote the integration and docking of modern apprenticeship, new enterprise apprenticeship, and the construction of industry-education integration enterprises. Strengthen the supervision and management of the withdrawal and use of staff and staff education funds, and provide certain subsidies to units that make rational use of staff and staff education funds after assessment; and provide policy preferences and guarantees for the vocational skills training of migrant workers through taxation, subsidies, and incentives.
2. Trade union level: further give full play to the role of the trade union as a "big school", carry out mass technological innovation, skill competitions, post training, "senior teachers leading apprentices" and other activities, give full play to the role of craftsman colleges, model worker colleges, staff schools, model worker (craftsman) innovation studios and other positions, and expand the path of skill cultivation of industrial workers. Actively participate in the construction of the vocational skills cultivation system, and work with relevant departments, industry enterprises, vocational colleges, training institutions and other social resources to dock, promote and coordinate the work of the construction of the vocational skills cultivation system, recommend and select model workers and craftsmen to enter the campus as part-time teachers, actively participate in the vocational skills training plan in key industries and fields, and promote the pilot work of vocational skills cultivation in strategic emerging industries, backbone enterprises and industrial worker clusters.
3. Social level: increase the intensity of socialized skills training, encourage industry associations and social training organizations to carry out vocational skills training, improve the integrated workflow of training, certification and promotion, and improve the management mechanism of socialized training list management, department supervision, student evaluation, standardized subsidies, and survival of the fittest. Intensify the socialization and reform of skill evaluation, promote the establishment of a skilled talent evaluation system supported by the government, led by the industry, and participated by enterprises, improve and improve the evaluation standards for vocational qualification types and vocational skill levels, and form a diversified evaluation mechanism for skilled talents with vocational skills evaluation as the focus, industry vocational skills standards as the leading, socialized vocational skills appraisal as the basis, and vocational college skills certification as the supplement. Actively cultivate and develop all kinds of talent evaluation social organizations and professional institutions, undertake the talent evaluation functions transferred by the government through the purchase of third-party services, and constantly improve the market-oriented and socialized skilled talent management service system.
4. Enterprise level: give full play to the role of the main body of the enterprise, especially to encourage qualified enterprises to strengthen the construction of their own skilled talent team by establishing staff training centers, enterprise universities, technical schools, skill master studios, model workers (craftsmen) innovation studios, etc. Make full use of the funds for the education and training of employees, and increase the investment in the skills of industrial workers. Actively build an enterprise integrating industry and education, actively participate in the construction of a new apprenticeship system and skill cultivation training base for enterprises, and effectively connect the vocational education chain, industrial chain and innovation chain.
(3) Broaden career development channels and break down the identity barriers for industrial workers to grow and become talents
1. Party and government level: Promote the establishment and improvement of a new type of "eight-level worker" supporting system. At present, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security proposes to build a new "eight-level worker" framework, but some of the grade standards are not clear enough, and the social versatility is not strong. Through the career development channel of industrial workers, promote the establishment of a connection mechanism between skilled talents, management talents, and professional and technical talents, realize horizontal correspondence and vertical cross-border promotion, break the restrictions of industrial workers' career transformation, job adjustment, and job promotion, and open up the career development channel of industrial workers.
2. At the level of trade unions: increase the training and selection of high-skilled talents such as craftsmen, and continuously improve the four-level craftsman training system of "national-provincial-municipal-regional (industry)-enterprise". Pay attention to the exchange and integration of career development paths, carry out various labor and skill competitions at all levels, and pay attention to promoting the integration of "post course competition certificates"; after the selection of advanced and typical craftsmen at all levels, pay attention to the follow-up brand building such as craftsman colleges, craftsman innovation studios, and craftsman alliance construction.
3. Social level: explore the establishment of a national craftsman day, strengthen the publicity of craftsmen in major countries, strengthen the publicity of the growth and success stories of front-line workers, strengthen the publicity of the winners of various skill competitions at all levels, and further create a social atmosphere of "everyone can become a champion in the industry". Strengthen the participation of industry associations and other social entities, promote industry associations, social organizations and other innovative vocational education and training models at all levels and types, give full play to the guiding role of industry organizations in industrial workers' skills training and skill identification, and promote the multi-channel and multi-channel success of industrial workers.
4. Enterprise level: Promote the overall development planning and construction of skilled talents, promote enterprises to take the initiative to incorporate the career development of industrial workers into the overall development plan of enterprises, and provide full-cycle and multi-faceted guarantees for the career of industrial workers. Strengthen the construction of the development system of skilled talents, actively build an honor system for skilled talents in enterprises, effectively implement the "new eight-level worker" vocational skill level (post) sequence, and connect the salary and job promotion of skilled talents, technical talents, and management talents, so as to create a better development environment for the growth of skilled talents.
(4) Build a platform for making contributions and careers, and better play the role of industrial workers as the main force
1. Party and government level: increase the incentive for industrial workers, promote the appropriate increase in the proportion of industrial workers in science and technology awards and other related awards, and increase the recognition and reward of industrial workers' technical skill achievements. Strengthen the construction of a carrier platform for the role of industrial workers, improve the five-in-one vocational skills competition system of "training, training, competition, promotion, and incentive", and optimize the vocational skill level system for skilled talents. Accelerate the construction of a platform for the transformation of innovation achievements suitable for industrial workers, maximize the awakening of social wealth contained in basic innovative technological achievements, and stimulate the continuous innovation vitality of grassroots front-line industrial workers.
2. At the level of trade unions: provide a competition and display platform for industrial workers, and carry out various labor and skill competition activities in an extensive, continuous and in-depth manner in combination with major strategies, key projects and key tasks. Carry out the selection of outstanding innovation achievements of employees, the selection of outstanding inventions, and carry out mass scientific and technological innovation activities such as the "five smalls", so as to provide a platform and stage for industrial workers to exchange innovative achievements and better play the role of the main force.
3. Social level: give full play to the exemplary and leading role of advanced models, pay attention to the social effect of advanced figures in labor competitions and other activities, and further encourage hard work, honest work, and creative labor. Diversified display of industrial workers' innovation achievements, give full play to the role of industry associations and other social organizations in deepening the diversified display and exchange mechanism of industrial workers' innovation achievements, and continue to create a social trend of industrial workers' innovation and efficiency.
4. Enterprise level: Establish a competition platform suitable for the needs of enterprise development, and further promote the establishment of a labor and skill competition mechanism based on post training and technical competition. Actively carry out mass innovation activities, encourage enterprises to focus on the technical problems and core key technologies in industrial development to carry out employee innovation activities suitable for their own characteristics, so that industrial workers can better play the role of the main force. Construct a mechanism for selecting and cultivating innovative achievements within the enterprise, so that industrial workers and enterprises can develop and progress together and share the fruits of reform and development.
(5) Promote innovation in social governance and promote the orderly participation of industrial workers in social and corporate governance
1. Party and government level: In accordance with the "Trade Union Law", "Labor Law" and other legislative purposes, promote the introduction of "Enterprise Democratic Management Law", "Workers' Congress Regulations", "Collective Negotiation Regulations" and other laws and regulations, and further improve the legal system of enterprise democratic management. Effectively unblock the channels for industrial workers to participate in democratic politics, continue to increase the number of front-line industrial workers' representatives in the party, people's congress, CPPCC, and trade union congresses at all levels, and establish relevant systems for front-line workers' party representatives, people's congress deputies, and CPPCC members to contact industrial workers. In order to allow industrial workers to more fully express their own opinions and suggestions, the government and other governments should fully listen to the opinions and suggestions of industrial workers' representatives when formulating and implementing local laws, regulations, and policy measures that involve the vital interests of industrial workers; Give full play to the effectiveness of systems such as tripartite coordination of labor relations, make good use of systems such as tripartite labor relations and joint meetings between the government and trade unions, and promptly study and resolve major matters involving the vital interests of employees.
2. At the level of trade unions: actively promote the admission of workers in new forms of employment through various methods such as "scanning the code to join the union", carry out in-depth centralized actions for migrant workers to join the union, and absorb more industrial workers, especially workers in new forms of employment, into the trade unions. Promote the introduction of laws and regulations on grassroots democratic consultation, give full play to the role of trade unions in participating at the source, promote the introduction of national laws and regulations related to the democratic management of enterprises, and continuously improve and improve various systems and mechanisms such as workers' congresses, collective bargaining, and employee directors and supervisors. Promote the improvement of the tripartite consultation mechanism among the government, trade unions, and enterprises, give full play to the active role of trade union organizations in participating in the mediation of labor relations conflicts, and promote social harmony and stability through the harmony and stability of labor relations.
3. Social level: Establish a social governance pattern of co-construction, co-governance and sharing, give play to the leading role of regionalized party building, organize and mobilize enterprises, social organizations, industry organizations, trade union organizations, residents' self-governance organizations, etc., through community councils and other platforms, promote community autonomy and co-governance, and promote the modernization of municipal social governance. Give full play to the important role of socialized pluralistic entities in grassroots consultations, and strive to include all groups of workers, including industrial workers, and their demands in the organizational system, scope of services, and the track of rule of law consultation through the continuous promotion of industry-wide and regional collective bargaining.
4. At the enterprise level: focus on establishing and improving the group's multi-level workers' congress system, promote the standardization of democratic management systems such as collective bargaining, employee directors and supervisors, and open factory affairs, and promote the integration of relevant systems into the corporate governance system. Give full play to the important role of enterprise workers' congresses, formulate and refine the implementation measures of enterprise workers' congresses, standardize the operation and implement the functions and powers of workers' congresses, and do a good job in guiding employee representatives to perform their duties. Promote enterprises to carry out collective bargaining in accordance with laws and regulations, and resolve labor relations issues in reform, adjustment, and daily employment management in an orderly manner through collective bargaining. Innovate the ways and forms of making factory affairs public, explore ways that are easy for industrial workers to accept and participate in, and integrate democratic management into the daily management work of units. Give full play to the role of employee directors and supervisors, especially corporate enterprises should improve the articles of association, allocate sufficient number of employee directors and supervisors in accordance with laws and regulations, strengthen the responsibility of employee directors and supervisors to the workers' congress, and create necessary conditions and provide corresponding guarantees for employee directors and supervisors to perform their duties.
(6) Effectively strengthen the protection of rights and interests, and continuously enhance the sense of gain, happiness and security of industrial workers
1. Party and government level: continue to deepen the reform of the income distribution system, gradually increase the proportion of labor remuneration in the primary distribution, increase the labor remuneration of laborers, especially front-line industrial workers, highlight the weight of skill elements in participating in the primary distribution, and strive to make skilled industrial workers enter the middle-income group. Improve the social security system, strengthen labor inspection, urge enterprises to pay social insurance premiums for industrial workers on time and in full, and continuously expand the coverage of social insurance. Strengthen public services such as housing security for industrial workers, and further optimize public supporting services such as housing security, transportation, medical services, and cultural and sports activities.
2. At the level of trade unions: strengthen policy participation related to the vital interests of industrial workers, and actively participate in the formulation and revision of livelihood security policies such as minimum wage standards, pension, medical care, work-related injury, maternity, unemployment, and housing through channels such as the "Two Sessions". Strengthen the construction of mechanisms for protecting the rights of industrial workers, promote the work of trade unions to prevent and resolve conflicts in labor relations, and promote the harmony and stability of labor relations by strengthening physical examinations, strengthening consultation, research and judgment, improving consultative democracy, focusing on multi-party linkage, promoting legal aid, and promoting targeted supervision. By expanding the scope of work, improving quality and efficiency, we will vigorously promote collective wage bargaining, accelerate the establishment and improvement of regional and industry-wide collective bargaining, and focus on non-public enterprises to expand the coverage of labor remuneration in the scope of collective bargaining, and improve its institutionalization level. We will increase the intensity of services for industrial workers, continue to deepen and promote practical projects to serve employees, solidly promote the pilot work of improving the quality of life, and actively build a work system for trade unions to serve employees.
3. Social level: Effectively create a good social atmosphere for industrial workers to work decently and comfortably, promote the construction of a fair and just employment, working environment and social and cultural atmosphere, and continuously reduce the cost and threshold for industrial workers to protect their legitimate rights and interests.
4. At the enterprise level: supervise and urge enterprises to employ employees in accordance with laws and regulations, standardize the employment system of enterprises, promote the healthy and orderly development of enterprises, and strive to build harmonious labor relations. Encourage enterprises to strengthen services for industrial workers, and provide better working and living conditions for industrial workers according to their actual conditions. Promote the safety production of enterprises, promote the improvement of the level of safety production and labor protection of enterprises, give full play to the role of the "Ankang Cup" competition, and effectively safeguard the life safety and physical and mental health rights and interests of industrial workers. (note omitted)
Source: Trade Union Theory Research
Review: Huang Zhijun
Editor: Wu Yuting