Officials and Scholars Criticize the Failure of Labor Laws to Protect Workers

May 30, 2006

Chinese officials and scholars criticized the failure of Chinese labor laws to protect workers in press reports from April and May 2006. Li Qi, a labor economics professor at the Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing, said the failure of China's labor laws to protect workers results from collusion between government officials and private business owners, according to an April 3 China Youth Daily article (English translation in the China Labour Bulletin, April 18, 2006).

Chinese officials and scholars criticized the failure of Chinese labor laws to protect workers in press reports from April and May 2006. Li Qi, a labor economics professor at the Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing, said the failure of China's labor laws to protect workers results from collusion between government officials and private business owners, according to an April 3 China Youth Daily article (English translation in the China Labour Bulletin, April 18, 2006). "Due to the biased economic policies adopted by some local governments," he said, "many private company owners enjoy privileges which exceed legal restrictions." Professor Li cited the coal mine industry as an example that illustrates how collusion between public officials and private investors threatens workers' lives by reducing the effectiveness of the central government’s mine safety policies.

Su Hainin, Director of the Labor Salary Institute of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, said that management has the "absolute upper hand" over workers, according to a May 8 article in China Daily. A labor surplus in the low-wage end of the labor market, restructuring of industries, and few legal protections for workers result in a pessimistic outlook for labor-management relations, he said. Zheng Gongcheng, a labor expert at People's University in Beijing, said that if the imbalance in labor relations is not addressed, it will "sabotage social stability [and] . . . also waste good opportunities for national economic development," according to the China Daily report.