In 2008, China reported that they had seen more then double the amount of lawsuits, compared to 2007, over wage related cases. Offical statistics from the southeastern city, Xiamen, "showed that labour related lawsuits more than doubled from 3,327 in 2007 to 8,313 in 2008."
Shen Deyong, vice-president of the Supreme People’s Court said that the sharp increase of lawsuits were “closely connected to businesses slumping and factories being shut down.” However, he also acknowledged that the introduction of the Labour Contract Law last year had raised awareness of workers’ rights and contributed to the increase in the number of lawsuits filed.
"It is only really in the last decade that workers have been willing and able to use the court system to claim unpaid wages and benefits, work-related injury and discrimination compensation. In many parts of China it is becoming easier to find a lawyer willing to take on labour related cases, while in Guangdong, hundreds of 'citizen agents' help workers file arbitration and routine civil court cases."
It has also been noted that most of the cases are won by the "worker plantiffs because the rights violations are so intolerable that the court has no other option, but to rule in their favour.
No comments:
Post a Comment