On May 19, more than 90 workers from Daimengduo Garment Factory
in Haizhu District of Guangzhou resigned en masse because of poor
working conditions, low income and overwork.
But their employer not only refused to accept their
resignations, he had them locked up in the factory. All the workers
were migrant workers from outside Guangdong
Province.
The dispute raised concerns at provincial and municipal
government levels. The city's police and labor department have set
up a special task force to help handle the case and promised to
better protect workers' legal interests.
Private enterprises are becoming the main driving force behind
Guangdong's economic growth. The province has the country's largest
number of migrant workers, some 16 million registered workers, and
also a correspondingly large number of labor disputes.
To address the issue, the provincial government has been
drafting new local laws and regulations to streamline the
operations of the province's countless private companies.
The new laws and regulations will help reduce labor disputes and
better protect workers' rights, said Huang Linyang, an official
from the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Labour and Social
Security.
One of the impending measures is the Guangdong Provincial
Regulations on Salary Disbursement (GRSD), according to Huang.
The draft regulation, which has been submitted to the provincial
People's Congress for approval, clearly stipulates when and how the
employers are to pay employees' salaries, Huang explains.
The draft also states that employers will have to bear the legal
responsibility if they are in arrears for employees' wages, and
they will be required to pay the employees' wages "even if they
have to sell their personal properties to do so."
Meanwhile, companies under investigation for delaying wages will
not enjoy any land-use rights and preferential government policies
on taxes and loans, says Huang.
Recalcitrant companies will also be named and shamed.
Many migrant workers in the province have welcomed the new laws
and regulations.
Lin Guoqiang, who works at a shoe factory in Guangzhou's
suburban Shijing Township, believes the new measures would further
protect their legal interests.
Lin, who hails from southwest China's Sichuan
Province, said the moves would certainly help attract more
migrant workers to Guangdong.
(China Daily June 3, 2005)