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| Substance, Not Slogans |
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Trade unions should be set up for migrant workers to better
safeguard their rights, according to an article in Southern
Metropolis Daily. An excerpt follows: Protection of migrant workers' rights more often than not ends up in slogans rather than substance. Recent reports that several provinces are now experiencing an unexpected shortage of migrant workers underline the problem. Government tax cuts and increased subsidies and rising produce prices - all of which help increase farmers' income - have also contributed to the current drain of migrant workers in some places. But failure to fully protect their rights is the major reason behind migrant workers' sweeping homeward exodus. Earning meager income, working in harsh conditions and often unable to collect their due payment, migrant workers feel it reasonable enough to go home if expected farm income is not substantially less than what they might earn in cities. For example, payment for migrant workers has remained static for the past decade - a period that has witnessed blistering economic growth for China. The lack of safeguards for their rights, which leads to weakened bargaining ability, is a main reason migrant workers can still be hired so cheaply. However, the duty of adjusting employer-employee relations falls on the government's shoulders. The concepts of people first and scientific development, put forward by the central government this year, are a welcome sign. They bring hope that more initiative will be taken in handling employer-employee relations. It is reported that a trade union consisting of migrant workers - the first of its kind in China - has been set up in Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning Province. The union boasted 4,500 members by the end of June and has done much to help settle many cases involving payment default issues. International experiences show that a trade union is an effective way to balance the relation between employers and employees. If the current trade union system is encouraged to carry out its duties more independently and election of union leaders is made more open, unions could play an even larger role in handling the relations between employers and employees. Achieving that goal will be an arduous task, but we should march toward it step by step, starting with working to improve the current system. (China Daily July 19, 2004) |
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