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Protection of workers' rights urged

By Zhu Zhe (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-26 07:30

The labor law has to be implemented better to prevent the rights and interests of workers from being harmed during the economic downturn, legislators said on Thursday.

As the economy started to slow in recent months, embattled enterprises have begun to lay off employees or send them on long vocations.

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Salary payments and employers' contribution to the social security fund are being delayed, leading to a rising number of labor disputes, Hua Jianmin, vice-chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, the top legislature, said.

"The enforcement of the Labor Contract Law is facing new problems," he said while presenting a report on the implementation of the law to the ongoing legislature session.

The law, which was passed last year after 18 months of deliberation and took effect on Jan 1, is considered the most significant change in the country's labor rules in more than a decade. It makes mandatory the use of written contracts and encourages open-ended contracts to protect the rights of workers.

However, Hua said, the more difficulty the economy faces, the more attention should be paid to the interests of workers. "We must fully implement the law to ensure their rights and interests."

In the report, legislators suggested better enforcement at local levels and more education to teach workers how to protect their rights through legal means. Local workers' unions are also told to play a bigger role in keeping relations between employers and employees harmonious.

To prevent salary delays, Hua suggested developing a sound mechanism to ensure timely payment, such as setting up a guarantee fund.

"It's also vital to increase support to medium- and small-sized enterprises, as well as labor-intensive industries," he said.

The government should consider reducing the burden of taxes and fees on enterprises, Hua said, adding that better credit policies are also needed to prevent mass closures of companies.

In addition, governments in regions that are seeing a large number of returning migrant workers should try to create more jobs and upgrade workers' skills, the report said.

Hua reiterated that better enforcement of the law is important to ensure harmonious labor relations. "According to our observation, workers are enjoying better conditions after the introduction of the law," he said.

In September and October, the NPC Standing Committee sent inspectors to six provinces to see how the law was being implemented. The report shows that as of September, about 93 percent of employees in companies with turnover of more than 5 million yuan ($732,000) each had signed labor contracts, up 2.3 percent year-on-year.

In the first half of the year, enterprises also signed 1.09 million collective labor contracts with trade unions, covering 143 million workers, both up 12 percent over the same period last year, according to the report.

There have been more long-term contracts as well. In Jiangsu province, the number of short-term contracts of less than one year has reduced by 14 percent compared with the end of last year, and the number of open-ended contracts has gone up 1.2 percent.

"These facts show that the Labor Contract Law is effective in protecting the rights and interests of ordinary workers," Hua said

But he said the law should be better implemented in the catering, entertainment, travel and construction sectors, in which fewer labor contracts have been signed.