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China strengthens labour law amid slavery scandal
2007-06-30
China approved a long-awaited labour law Friday aimed at better protecting workers' rights, amid outrage over a slavery scandal that has highlighted endemic abuse behind the nation's economic boom. The controversial bill on contract labour, which has been argued over for the past 18 months, will try to end some of the abuses, many of them endured by China's huge army of migrant workers. Officials could now face criminal prosecution if their neglect results in serious harm to workers, Xinhua news agency reported, following approval of the bill by the National People's Congress, China's parliament. The bill, to take effect from January 1, 2008, also bans the practice of rolling probationary contracts, where workers are denied a full-time position despite working in the same job for a long period. Workers hired by agencies are now to be given the same protections and insurances as full-time workers, a situation that previously was biased against migrant workers hired from outside. Li Yuan, who was one of the legislators in charge of drafting the law, said it was targeted at bosses and officials who took advantage of workers. "When making the law, we have added articles to punish those officials and employers who violate rights and interests of employees," he said. One rights activist praised the law's content, but said Chinese authorities should instead be focusing on using their current powers rather introducing new legislation. "The new law is laudable in intent and has brought in some important new protections," said Robin Munro, from the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin. "However, the main need at present is for authorities to enforce the country's existing labour laws. That is a more urgent priority. "Unless they show real willingness to enforce these new laws, it is hard to see how in practice it will improve the lot of Chinese workers." The law was first mooted in December 2005, and was passed on its fourth draft. The first draft was even sent out for public comment, a very unusual move in Communist China and garnered 190,000 responses from workers and businesses. Some measures were removed following the long process, including a provision that the official labour body had to approve the sacking of any workers. The latest draft was passed against the backdrop of a slavery scandal, where around 400 slaves, some as young as eight, were freed from illegal brick kilns and mines in northern and central China in recent weeks. More than 8,000 brick kilns and small coal mines in Shanxi province and neighbouring Henan were raided during the operation. Police have rescued around 600 workers, some with mental disabilities, and 51 of them children, previous reports have said. According to investigators, government labour monitors and police officers were actively involved in some of the abuses. Abuse of marginalised workers, particularly in manufacturing industries such as the coal sector, has long been a feature of China's economic boom. Labour rights groups have also often said that many of the world's goods that are made in China come from "sweatshops" where workers are forced to work long hours for little pay and few rights. Another Chinese legislator, Xin Chunying, said foreign companies should not be concerned about the new law, following some criticism from multinationals that the legislation would give too many rights to workers. "In any country, a company which violates the law and does not respect its workers will not make profits nor last for a long time," Xin said.
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