On November 16, nine authorities including the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) issued the Opinions on Further Strengthening the Consultation and Mediation Efforts in Labor and Personnel Disputes (the "Opinions").

The Opinions require employers to establish a sound communication and dialogue mechanism, keep open the channels for employees to express their demands and coordinate interests, and establish and improve internal systems for response to complaints and consultation, to respond to employees' consultation demands in a timely manner; trade unions and enterprise representative organizations should help employees and employers to conduct consultations in dispute resolution. The Opinions state that, a trade union organization should take the initiative to guide employees to sign settlement agreements with employers, promote the performance of settlement agreements, and take the initiative to guide the request for mediation; and the effectiveness of settlement agreements in arbitration and litigation activities is also clarified. In addition, the Opinions establish and improve the linkage system for labor and personnel dispute mediation and people's mediation, administrative mediation, and judicial mediation, require enterprises to generally establish labor dispute mediation committees, and promote the establishment of mediation centers and trade union legal service workstations in labor and personnel dispute arbitration courts at the city and county levels, where conditions permit; and strengthen the connection between mediation, arbitration and litigation, and enhance the execution of mediation agreements.

(Source: China Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security)