On October 27, the "Building Harmonious Labor Relations and Present Status of Employment on Platforms in China and Japan" Seminar was held in Conference Room 509 of Zhiyuan Building, which was co-organized by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) and Japan International Labor Foundation (JILAF), and co-organized by the CULR. The seminar was attended online by Zheng Jiaheng, Deputy Director of the International Department of the ACFTU, and Motobayashi Toshihiro, Executive Director of the JILAF. It also had more than 50 attendants in both online and offline manner, including the officials from the ACFTU, the JILAF, Shandong Provincial Federation of Trade Unions, Rizhao Municipal Federation of Trade Unions, teachers and students from the School of Labor Relations and Human Resources, and the staff from the International Office of Cooperation and Exchange of our university.

At the seminar, Nishino Yukari, Director of Wor-Q support center of the Japan Trade Union Confederation (JTUC-RENGO) made a presentation titled Present Status of "Fuzzy Employment" and Joint Countermeasures in Japan and gave a systematic introduction to Wor-Q, a website dedicated for providing assistance and relief to freelancers. She explained that "fuzzy employment" in Japan mainly refers to the individuals providing services and receiving remunerations in forms of outsourcing, contracting, part-time jobs, side jobs and freelancers, which is a working pattern between being employed and self-employed. Through the data gained from the "Industry Survey of Freelancers 2021" and the inquiry information released by freelancers on the Wor-Q website, she analyzed the existing problems of "fuzzy employment" e.g. dramatic increase of employed people, rising disputes of freelancers due to lack of protection of traditional labor laws and regulations, and prominent vulnerability of "fuzzy employment" caused by the rampant pandemic. She noted that the "cyber members" and Wor-Q website appeared for the people of "fuzzy employment" to address these challenges. By means of sharing freelancers' opinions, providing legal consultancy services and labor consultation cases, communicating with other freelancers, and establishing the Wor-Q community and Wor-Q mutual insurance for freelancers, etc., the website protects the rights and interests of "fuzzy employees", provides basic insurance coverage, enhances the communication of industrial insiders and sets up an organization based on legal protection and online connectivity.

Associate Professor Zhang Yanhua, Vice Dean of the School of Labor Relations and Human Resources of the CULR, made a presentation titled Exploration of Organizing the Workers of New Business Forms in Incorporating and Joining Trade Unions. Concentrating on "amending of the trade union law to guarantee the right of unity for the workers of new business forms", "improving the organization system to include the workers of new business forms into the trade union system" and "perfecting the working mechanism to effectively safeguard the rights and interests of the workers of new business forms", she introduced the initiatives and measures of China's trade unions in attracting the workers of new business forms and protecting their rights and interests, i.e. urging platform-type enterprises to build trade unions, focusing on the building of trade unions by industrial associations, and persisting in the bottom line of "minor three-tier trade unions" built on townships (sub-districts), villages (communities) and enterprises. She said that confronting the new challenges posed by the digital economic boom to the job market, China's trade unions have made a series of explorations in advancing legislation, improving the organization system and perfecting the working mechanism, and achieved significant results. An effective trade union organization system for new business forms and working mechanism of rights protection service has taken shape. This strengthens the sense of belonging and unity of workers.

In the exchange session, the teachers and students from our university had a lively interaction and discussion with the Japanese delegates on topics like the law of large numbers, number of insured persons and compensation payment of mutual insurance.

Deputy Director Zheng Jiaheng affirmed the productive symposium in the concluding remark. He said that the world is undergoing profound and sophisticated changes. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, new changes and conflicts have taken place between workers and the working environment, resulting in a number of new industries, new business forms and new models, and the world labor community including China and Japan is now facing new situations and new challenges. The exchange of new situations and issues of common concern between the labor circles of the two countries will yield a positive effect on the workers' and people's well-being in the two countries. Executive Director Motobayashi Toshihiro commented that the Japanese side benefits a lot from China's advanced practice and experience of attracting the workers of new business forms to trade unions, while Japan's experience of "fuzzy employment" mutual insurance is also enlightening for China. He hoped that the two countries would continue to work together on protecting the workers' rights and interests and promoting further communication and cooperation.

Founded in 1989, the Japan International Labor Foundation (JILAF) is a group dedicated to international labor relations exchange and jointly funded by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. At the invitation of ACFTU, the group has visited the CULR many times for academic exchange and discussion activities.

(International Office of Cooperation and Exchange)