Yangtze cities vow to protect migrant workers

Twenty-nine cities along the Yangtze River signed an agreement to protect migrant workers' rights yesterday in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

Representatives of the 29 cities were attending the 13th Session of the Economic Co-ordination Meeting of Central Cities along the Yangtze River, a two-day gathering ending today that brought together officials from major cities like Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan and Chongqing.

The agreement calls on the cities to ban discrimination against migrant workers and to strengthen the social welfare system for such workers by covering their medical services and creating insurance for work-related injuries. The agreement also obliged the cities to provide migrant workers with legal aid, mediate labour disputes and provide schooling for their children.

The cities also agreed to accelerate the training of migrant workers and provide them with easy access to employment information.

The goal is to build a fair labour market and to establish an employment system based on competition, according to the agreement.

In 1985, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan and Chongqing initiated the first Economic Co-ordination Meeting of Central Cities along the Yangtze River. Since then, the meeting, which now boasts 29 members, has boosted economic co-operation and industrial re-structuring, encouraged the development of a unified market and improved environmental protection along the Yangtze River.

The economic boom of the last few years has driven some 200 million people to build factories, construction sites and mines on their farmland in a bid to earn more money.

A survey of nine provinces by the State Administration of Work Safety found that migrant workers accounted for 80 per cent of China's 30 million-plus construction workers. They also make up 56 per cent of the work force in mining and at dangerous chemicals and fireworks factories.

Poor safety facilities, lax rules and a lack of training have made migrant workers the most vulnerable group in terms of work safety, the Xinhua News Agency has reported.

Source: China Daily