From Chinese Press

Give them their due

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-15 08:32

About 30 migrant workers from Henan province prayed in front of a river god's statue after failing to get their arrear wages. The incident shows the how helpless this disadvantaged group is, says an article in China Youth Daily. Excerpts:

Another employer has failed to pay arrear wages to its workers. Among companies that delay wage payments on purpose are private as well as government enterprises. They get away with such criminal acts because migrant workers are the weakest link in the economic chain.

The workers in Henan didn't get their wages after the completion of the Yellow River levee system in January 2007. Government departments cannot escape the blame and shed their responsibility in meeting out justice to the poor. Only by giving priority to the interest of workers and making efforts to establish credit and penalty systems can such incidents not repeat.The loss of the most basic rights and interests will cast a shadow over China's rapid economic development in many places.

Theoretically speaking, there are many ways for the migrant workers to get their rightful due with intervention by the labor department, and efforts of trade unions and the judiciary. In fact, in some cases such efforts have been made successfully. But these measures are remedies and not precautions. They fail to form institutionalized disciplines and punishments, too. So, it is necessary to reconsider these measures.

(China Daily 10/15/2010 page9)