Shenzhen's labor and social security bureau launched a three-month campaign to deal with back wages beginning Sunday.

The bureau will send 500 law enforcement workers in 100 teams to check enterprises suspected of delaying wages or refusing to pay wages. The campaign's goal is to achieve "zero-tolerance of back wages" in the city by the end of this year.

The bureau said it would ask the police department to apprehend employers who refused to pay wages.

It will also haul up enterprises with back wage problems, send municipal and district bureau directors to handle complaints on back wages from migrant workers, expose the names of enterprises that delayed paying wages on local media, enhance migrants' awareness of labor laws and regulations, and praise 100 enterprises that have paid their wages regularly and on time.

The authority has received most back pay complaints from employees of the construction industry. Therefore, construction companies will be the campaign's focus.

The bureau will set up complaint hotlines and reward informants on their verified cases.

The bureau promises to ensure that all back wages will be paid to migrant workers prior to the Spring Festival, the most important festival in China.

According to a Shenzhen law on wages, companies who delay or refuse to pay wages can be fined 30,000 (US$3,700) to 50,000 yuan.

(Shenzhen Daily October 11, 2005)