Migrant Chinese workers' rights protected
30/08/2010
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Chinese authorities are intensifying their crackdown on illegal labour export in a bid to protect legal rights of migrant workers.
The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently issued an emergency circular, prohibiting illegal labour agencies from dispatching labourers abroad. The circular also bans the subcontracting of overseas labour service by domestic contract engineering firms.
“Overseas agencies are prohibited from directly hiring Chinese labourers in China,” the circular says. Workers being hired for seasonal jobs or foreign jobs must be paid a minimum wage lower than in the same domestic industry.
Failure to comply could result in the loss of business licences.
He Li, a lawyer with Beijing-based Yingke Law Firm, said the circular will help settle labour disputes that arise as a result of non-existent or fake contracts that illegal labour agencies sign with workers.
“The workers are easily tricked into becoming illegal immigrants, who only get tourist visas or temporary residence visas, not work visas,” he said.
The circular will make it compulsory for foreign companies to sign formal labour contracts with recruited applicants.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, more than 340,000 Chinese people worked abroad in 2009.