The new labor contract law, which was submitted to the highest legislature a year and a half ago, is scheduled to be finally passed by the Standing Committee of China People's Congress in June. This draft law was first submitted in June 5438+February 2005. In April this year, the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) discussed it and other draft laws. If passed in June, it is expected to take effect next year.
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The delay in passing the labor law stems from an unusual special situation: the China Municipal Government extensively solicited public opinions on the draft law and received nearly 200,000 opinions.
The debate on this issue was once very fierce. In the face of criticism from international labor groups that the draft labor law intentionally downplays the protection that workers in China urgently need, comments from domestic business groups have become lightning rods.
However, this process shows that the China government has begun to consider the opinions of different interest groups and the public more and more when formulating laws. This prudent measure aimed at improving transparency reflects the desire of the China government to get wide support for its laws and regulations, and the need to listen to the opinions of experts from all sides to ensure that its laws can adapt to the increasingly complex economic and social situation.
In China, the driving force for making laws is still mainly from the political elite. However, observers said that the China government seems to have seriously considered and responded to the various problems and concerns caused by the draft labor law.
Alexander May, a lawyer of Beijing Shuangcheng Law Firm, said that this relatively open approach is still very popular, despite the heated debate among law professors, trade unions and enterprises during the consultation period. "I definitely think these comments have had a great impact."
China needs a new labor law to improve the labor order, especially considering the rapid development of the private sector. Many workers are not effectively protected by written labor contracts, and often can't get their wages on time. At the same time, the government is also worried that many workers are subject to unfair short-term labor contracts, so it is difficult to obtain development opportunities.
Business lobby groups worry that once the labor contract law strengthens the requirements for employers, enterprises may have to increase costs and the flexibility of recruitment and dismissal will be reduced. At the same time, they are worried about the main role played by trade unions in the legislative process. Trade unions have always been regarded as a tool for the government to control enterprises. Labor rights activists and business groups say that the China government is not doing a good job in enforcing existing laws.
The drafting of the new labor law began around 2004, when the China government became increasingly worried about workers' dissatisfaction and the widening income gap. It is against this background that the Ministry of Labor and Social Security of China drafted the first draft of the new labor law with the help of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.
A few months after the first draft was submitted, China leaders decided to solicit public opinions on the draft. Although this move is not unprecedented, it is also rare. During the next month's consultation period, the public responded enthusiastically and submitted a total of 19 1849 comments, most of which came from individuals and domestic industry groups, but some came from foreign companies.
One of the opinions submitted by foreign companies came from Janssens, then president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. In a letter to the People's Congress of China last year, he warned that "strict supervision" may increase production costs, thus "forcing foreign companies to reconsider (whether) making new investments or continuing their business in China."
Global Labor Strategies, an American activist group, accused business groups, including the American Chamber of Commerce in China, of trying to "castrate" the legislation.
On April 26th, united steelworkers union launched a campaign to urge some members of the American Chamber of Commerce in China to stay away from what he called violations of the new law. Chamber of commerce officials denied that they intended to downplay the revision of the labor law. A spokesman for the Chamber of Commerce said that it only submitted some constructive opinions with other business and labor groups in China and sought to clarify some specific issues in the original draft of the Labor Law.
Regarding the labor problem in China, one of the most hotly debated issues is that although there is no discrimination against China companies and foreign companies in the bill, the code of conduct of foreign companies often has higher standards. For example, in the southern city of Guangzhou, China last month, local media accused McDonald's and Yum! Brands, which owns KFC fried chicken and Pizza Hut brand chains, of paying employees wages below the standard, although the local government finally clarified that the two companies did not violate the regulations.
After discussing and studying the draft of the new labor law for several months, the legislature issued a new draft with many amendments at the end of February last year.
The most important amendment seems to have weakened the role of trade unions in China. There is a provision in the original draft that if an employer wants to change the working rules, he must first submit it to the trade union or other employee organizations for approval. Enterprise groups have raised strong objections to this clause. The wording of this article has been revised in the new draft as follows: If the employer wants to change the working rules, it must first consult with the trade union or other employee organizations. The revised clause is vague, and some employers are worried that it will still give inappropriate power to trade unions in the employment of enterprises.
The revised draft has made many changes to the wording of more professional terms such as probation period, non-competition agreement, laid-off and collective bargaining.
The American Chamber of Commerce in China said it was satisfied with most of the changes. It indicated that three quarters of the comments made in April 2006 were resolved in the revised draft. At present, it is still worrying that the requirements for severance payment in the new draft have increased, which will increase the cost of employers.
The European Chamber of Commerce in China declined to comment.
Jun Guo, an official of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, who has been involved in the negotiation process of the draft, said that the new draft made some concessions, and did not require employers to provide written contracts for temporary workers, nor did it provide an effective mechanism to solve too many short-term contract problems.
Labor rights activists say that although the rights granted to workers in the revised draft are not as much as required, they are still enhanced to a considerable extent.
Dominic, head of the Hong Kong Liaison Office of the International Federation of Trade Unions? Dominique Muller said that the draft gives the regulatory authorities more power, while workers still do not have the freedom to form or choose their own trade unions.
The relatively open revision process of the Labor Contract Law attracts people's attention, and people expect the China government to solicit opinions more widely when formulating other laws. However, most of the dozens of other laws that China plans to amend this year will not be widely consulted.
James Zimmerman, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said that this is still a transparent and selective system, and foreign companies have never had a say in other important laws and regulations, such as the recently promulgated M&A Management Measures.
Some scholars say that the China government seems to want to increase public participation, at least on the surface. However, according to the laws of our country, the process of soliciting opinions publicly is not needed to make laws.
Zheng Aiqing, a legal scholar at Renmin University of China, said that there may be more technical laws to solicit opinions from a small number of people outside government departments, and most of them are scholars. She believes that the government will not widely solicit public opinions on issues that ordinary people are not very concerned about.