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Letters and Blogs
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-28 07:55 Labor disputes needn't go to courts A recent article in China Daily about the mounting pressure on local courts, which should handle more labor dispute cases nowadays, grabbed my attention. According to statistics, Guangdong, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang record almost half of the nation's labor disputes. These provinces make the top four in the list of GDP volume. Guangdong, at the forefront of the country's exporting industry, has the largest economic volume. As a province full of private and overseas-funded enterprises, Guangdong has unavoidably become a major victim of the global economic crisis. Jiangsu also has the lion's share of foreign capital investment and directly responds to the turmoil in the international market. These negative economic factors have inevitably affected the stability in the local labor market. However it is amazing that Zhejiang, the well-known kingdom of private-owned medium or small-sized companies in China, has a relatively small number of labor disputes. The reasons may be that Zhejiang is both a domestic and overseas market and has a comparatively resilient market strategy. Most enterprises in Zhejiang switch quickly to the domestic market to offset the decline of overseas orders, which prevent a severe crisis in the province. Among these provinces, Shandong has the smallest number of labor suits, compared with the other three regions. That's because State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Shandong contribute more to the local economy and also take more social responsibilities. In my opinion, it will take joint efforts from the government, enterprises and employers to deal with the increasing number of labor disputes. I want to emphasize the role of labor unions, which should mediate between the management and the workers, and protect their rights and interests. Cai Jingbo Via email Quake survivors must be in pain Comment on the article "Official of quake-hit county hangs self" (China Daily Website, April 20) I felt really sorry for this official. Although it is still not clear why he ended his life, I wonder whether he received the necessary psychological counseling. Reconstructing a collapsed building is easier than helping victims to psychologically recover from the trauma of witnessing a quake, watching friends and relatives die. It is very hard for the victims to recall the painful experience they have suffered. A recent documentary told us a story of a schoolteacher, who lost her young daughter in the Sichuan quake. She walked out of a counseling session sobbing uncontrollably. She could not speak about what had happened. The government should pay more attention to the survivors of the quake, who must be in pain and going through trauma, with no one to share. May the man rest in peace. Dodi On China Daily Website Readers' comments are welcome. Please send mail to Letters to the Editor, China Daily, 15 Huixin Dongjie, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100029 China. Send faxes to (86-10) 6491-8377. Send e-mail to opinion@chinadaily.com.cn or letters@chinadaily.com.cn or to the individual columnists. China Daily reserves the right to edit all letters. Thank you. (China Daily 04/28/2009 page9) |
