Workers deserve their due

A State-owned enterprise (SOE) in Heze, Shandong province, suspended two of the 15 workers' representatives for demanding higher pay. Later, the 13 others, too, lost their jobs for demanding the reinstatement of the two workers' representatives. Since the employees didn't violate any rules by demanding higher wages, they should not have been penalized in such a way, says an article in China Youth Daily. Excerpts:

Irrespective of whether they make huge profits or are in the red, SOE managements decide the wages of employees arbitrarily and choose to pay executives many times more.

Workers in SOEs, according to China's political system, should be the owners. But it seems that in the Heze SOE the real owners are neither the workers nor the people at large, but the persons in charge. Otherwise, how could the management suspend the workers' representatives for demanding a pay rise?

The suspension of the representatives has as much to do with the economy as the denial of workers' rights.

Every rational private employer knows that well-paid employees remain loyal to the company and considering workers' demand for a salary increase is the first step toward gaining their confidence and helping the business grow.

But what some management personnel in charge of SOEs are most concerned about is how to make a fast buck rather than paying attention to their companies' development and/or employees' welfare. Some management officials even use the advantage of being government officials and exercise their "power" to make employees' life miserable.

Premier Wen Jiabao emphasized the dignity of labor last year. But the paltry amount that employees in the Heze SOE earn is far from being enough to lead a dignified life.

To ensure that workers lead a dignified life, they should at least have the right to demand higher pay, otherwise all the rules and promises would sound like empty talk.

(China Daily 09/18/2012 page9)