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Sunday 24 January 2010
Only a third of migrant workers given contracts
Only about a third of mainland migrant workers have signed contracts with their employers - two years after the introduction of a controversial labour contract law sought to make them compulsory, a survey has found.
Only about a third of mainland migrant workers have signed contracts with their employers - two years after the introduction of a controversial labour contract law sought to make them compulsory, a survey has found.
The Beijing Zhicheng law firm interviewed 581 migrant workers from 15 provinces and municipalities in the first half of last year and found that just under 34 per cent had been offered contracts. Another survey by the firm, conducted between January 2008 and June last year and involving 2,592 workers seeking to uphold their labour rights at 16 workers’ rights centres across the mainland, found that just over a fifth had signed contracts.
Researchers said unscrupulous bosses from small and medium-sized enterprises had exploited loopholes in the law, which was designed to improve the rights of the country’s workers but also threatened to increase employers’ staff costs.
Researchers said the situation had only improved slightly since the new labour contract law was implemented in 2008. Surveys conducted between 2005 and 2007 showed that up to 12.5 per cent migrant workers had signed contracts with their employers.
The firm’s survey results contrast sharply with a labour law enforcement investigation launched by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, which estimated that 93 per cent of large companies had offered contracts to migrant workers. Lawyers said those enforcing the law should focus on small and medium-sized factories, which employed most of the country’s migrant workers and were more likely to breach workers’ rights.
Although the law requires bosses who fail to sign labour contracts within 12 months to give their workers double pay as compensation, very few employers have complied with the law due to weak enforcement.
The law firm said 90 per cent of the workers surveyed at workers’ rights centres were not covered by social insurance, and many had seen their livelihoods threatened by industrial injuries or runaway bosses.
Nearly 40 per cent had suffered industrial injuries and 55 per cent had tried to secure back pay. Many complained they had not received overtime pay, severance pay and other compensation demanded by the new law.
The random survey found that more than half the workers were required to work more than eight hours a day and 93 per cent had not received sufficient overtime pay.
The report also referred to a case that went to court last month involving French supermarket chain Carrefour, which was accused of requiring salesmen to sign labour contracts with a third party so the firm could avoid its responsibilities as an employer.
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Only a third of migrant workers given contracts
Fiona Tam
22 January 2010
Only about a third of mainland migrant workers have signed contracts with their employers - two years after the introduction of a controversial labour contract law sought to make them compulsory, a survey has found.
The Beijing Zhicheng law firm interviewed 581 migrant workers from 15 provinces and municipalities in the first half of last year and found that just under 34 per cent had been offered contracts. Another survey by the firm, conducted between January 2008 and June last year and involving 2,592 workers seeking to uphold their labour rights at 16 workers’ rights centres across the mainland, found that just over a fifth had signed contracts.
Researchers said unscrupulous bosses from small and medium-sized enterprises had exploited loopholes in the law, which was designed to improve the rights of the country’s workers but also threatened to increase employers’ staff costs.
Researchers said the situation had only improved slightly since the new labour contract law was implemented in 2008. Surveys conducted between 2005 and 2007 showed that up to 12.5 per cent migrant workers had signed contracts with their employers.
The firm’s survey results contrast sharply with a labour law enforcement investigation launched by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, which estimated that 93 per cent of large companies had offered contracts to migrant workers. Lawyers said those enforcing the law should focus on small and medium-sized factories, which employed most of the country’s migrant workers and were more likely to breach workers’ rights.
Although the law requires bosses who fail to sign labour contracts within 12 months to give their workers double pay as compensation, very few employers have complied with the law due to weak enforcement.
The law firm said 90 per cent of the workers surveyed at workers’ rights centres were not covered by social insurance, and many had seen their livelihoods threatened by industrial injuries or runaway bosses.
Nearly 40 per cent had suffered industrial injuries and 55 per cent had tried to secure back pay. Many complained they had not received overtime pay, severance pay and other compensation demanded by the new law.
The random survey found that more than half the workers were required to work more than eight hours a day and 93 per cent had not received sufficient overtime pay.
The report also referred to a case that went to court last month involving French supermarket chain Carrefour, which was accused of requiring salesmen to sign labour contracts with a third party so the firm could avoid its responsibilities as an employer.
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