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China migrant labourers learn the law to win rights
(Agencies) Updated: 2008-03-02 16:56 Qi Yunhui didn't even graduate from middle school, but on a recent afternoon he addressed the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court with the confidence of a seasoned litigator. When he came to Shenzhen in 2002, the fast talking native of China's central province of Hubei worked in a leather shoe factory. Now, he is part of a new and growing breed of "citizens' agents", former workers offering cheap legal aid to fellow migrants involved in labour disputes. In the past five years or so, these self-taught "barefoot" labour lawyers have proliferated, filling an important niche in a country where migrant workers are increasingly caught in a dilemma -- they are encouraged by the leadership to know their rights, but lack effective, efficient channels to protect them. "We want to encourage people to go to court," Qi, 30, said over dinner with five toy factory workers he was representing in a case over unpaid overtime. China's 150 million migrants, mostly working for low wages in export processing factories or in construction, have helped write the country's economic success story. But their rights have been consistently sidelined, and tales of illegally low pay, abusive factory conditions and a litany of contract violations are commonplace. China's leaders have passed a series of laws designed to strengthen workers' status. This January, a new labour contract law took effect and a dispute arbitration law will come into force in May. Premier Wen Jiabao has personally campaigned to curb the problem of managers withholding pay, a situation many migrants say has improved significantly during the five years of his tenure. But change is slower to come at local levels, where officials are pre-occupied with finding -- and keeping -- investment. "Local governments seek economic benefits alone. They think protecting the boss is protecting their rice bowl, but it's the workers who pay the price of sacrificing their health and lives," said Zhou Litai, a self-taught lawyer who went a step beyond "citizens' agents" like Qi by taking the national exams to receive his lawyers' license. |
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