Ensure migrant workers are paid on time

As the year draws to a close, many construction and engineering projects will receive their revenues for the year, which should trickle down to the migrant workers, mostly people who have left their rural hometowns to work in faraway cities.

Most migrant workers receive a small sum every month, which is just enough to sustain them. There are migrants who are paid every season and others who are paid at the end of the year, but some contractors hesitate to pay the workers even after receiving the pay themselves.

However, the State Council, China's Cabinet, is looking into this. It has introduced multiple measures to ensure migrant workers get paid on time. Also, a cash deposit system has been established to ensure they have ample money in hand.

For those refusing to pay migrant workers on time, government departments are trying to enforce the law. In the past three quarters of the year, the departments' effort has helped solve 43,000 cases involving unpaid migrant workers. It led to 286,000 migrant workers being paid 3.5 billion yuan ($549.35 million) within the season. As the year-end approaches, when most contractors will be paid for the projects undertaken, it will again be the time when migrant workers will have to be paid. To ensure the migrant workers do not face any problems, the State Council has taken several significant measures.

Its primary focus is on local governments, who have been told not to delay or default on payments to migrant workers. Once that is achieved, it will become easier to enforce the law on private enterprises.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security recently blacklisted enterprises that do not pay migrant workers on time. Those on the list will face constraints when making government purchases, bidding, financing, and tax incentives. Those who intentionally refuse to pay migrant workers can even face criminal charges.

For migrant workers, it is necessary to strengthen their understanding of the law so that everything is transparent in the contracts they sign, making it easier to avoid disputes. That in turn requires local governments to create awareness of the law among them so as to lower the risks for all.

- ECONOMIC DAILY