All-China Federation of Trade Unions honors model workers and collectives

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions held a commendatory ceremony on Tuesday in Beijing to honor model workers and collectives with outstanding performance.

The federation awarded 3,024 May 1 Labor Honors — the nation’s highest honor for individual workers, collectives, or companies at the conference.

According to a release by the federation on Monday, the May 1 Labor Honor winners this year are mainly grassroots workers, technicians and new employment workers.

The federation said honorees are selected from areas highlighted in the 14th and 15th Five-Year Plan period, such as new energy, integrated circuits, AI and quantum communications, along with major projects and reforms to upgrade industrial workers.

The awards now cover 19 industries, with more people from non-public sectors, ethnic minorities and new social groups — making the recognition more representative, it said.

Wang Dongming, vice-chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee and president of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, extended festive greetings and warm regards to workers, farmers, intellectuals, and other working people across the country.

He called on trade unions at all levels to conscientiously fulfill their duties and carry out solid work, uniting and rallying workers to contribute to the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) and forge ahead on a new journey.

Zhang Baojian, a food delivery rider from Wuhan, Hubei province, received the 2026 National May Day Labor Honor.

He said, “I never imagined that the country would bestow such a high honor on a delivery rider. Delivering meals led me all the way to the Great Hall of the People.”

Zhang, a former soldier who served in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake relief, has been a rider for seven years. Over that time, he has saved 158 people — including an elderly woman he resuscitated using an automated external defibrillator — and donated more than 400,000 yuan ($58,500) from his delivery income.

He founded a volunteer team of delivery people, which has grown to nearly 500 members, and has trained over 5,000 delivery workers in first aid. Many now carry first-aid kits and AEDs in their delivery boxes.

“If we can turn every delivery box into a mobile emergency station, we can reach people before the ambulance does,” he said.

“Don’t feel that others are brilliant while you are dim,” he said. “Everyone’s flowering period is different. Just persist and never forget why you started.”

He added, “Honor is not something to show off. It is motivation to keep moving forward. We are ordinary, but we are not mediocre.”

China Daily