It will take three years to get all businesses, construction
firms in particular, to sign labor contracts with all their
employees, said Hu Xiaoyi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Labor
and Social Security, at a press conference in Beijing on
Thursday.
"We'll take these next three years informing all businesses of
the obligation to implement the Labor Law and have employers sign
labor contracts with their employees," he said.
During the first three quarters of 2005, more than 230,000 labor
dispute cases involving 560,000 laborers were reported. Over 90
percent of them were settled.
Noting that some employers currently fail to abide by the Labor
Law, Wu said the three-year plan for action will focus mainly on
private businesses, restructured state-owned enterprises and
construction businesses.
In the four years from 2001 to 2005, some 4.2 million
institutions were inspected and 1.06 million cases of illegal
employment uncovered by 3,277 labor inspection authorities above
the county level.
More than 34 million employees had signed labor contracts, which
entitled them to 14.9 billion yuan (US$1.9 billion) in social
insurance paid for by their employers.
(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2006)