An estimated 50 million to 70 million people in China identify themselves as LGBT. (Photo : REUTERS)
Guo Jun, member of the Secretariat and Minister of Legal Work of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), asserted that employment discrimination is a long standing problem that needs to be resolved now and fast.
Guo claimed that employers continue to discriminate against women, individuals with disabilities, and other disadvantaged and minority groups.
Guo highlighted that gender discrimination is quite serious and apparent because the government lacks serious and sufficient punishment against discriminatory practices.
In a press conference held by ACFTU on Feb. 2, 2015, it said that the government should soon add more punitive regulations and establish better enforcement methods.
Problems in labor relations in China have become more transparent by the different employee discrimination cases during the past years. Guo even talked about 10 model cases of employee discrimination during the press conference, including one showing the plight of a female graduate while job seeking.
The female, who has a surname of Guo, got rejected by a school when she applied for the job of a copyeditor because the job is said to be only for males.
Guo did not take this discrimination sitting down and filed a lawsuit at the local court. The court ruled in favor of Guo and the school was tasked to pay the complainant 2,000 yuan.
Guo Jun claimed that the problem of discrimination is deep-seated in China and could not be resolved that easily. He said that the country is too focused on improving its GDP and on seeking higher profits, but not paying attention to the plight of the laborers.
