Brutal working hours fuels anger among Chinese workers: Report

The dissatisfied and angry Chinese working population over forced overtime issue are venting their emotions on social media and criticizing their leaders, according to the Indo-Pacific Centre for Strategic Communications (IPCSC).

As per the publication, the workers had criticized their leaders on social media for forcing them to work overtime and in many cases without any remuneration. Many Chinese companies are mostly accused of violating labour laws, which was the 1995 law that limits the work week to five days. 

The companies routinely defrauded the workers’ wages and fired them if they try to organize a union, forced them to work double shifts, and denied them benefits that are promised to them. Female workers are sexually harassed by their bosses. 

This has become a never-ending problem for Chinese workers. Several fraudulent training programs and numerous scams are prevalent in China that are aimed at cheating the poor and naive or even kidnapping women into prostitution, reported IPCSC. Migrant workers are often hired at the bus and train stations by recruiters who promise them good wages which often don’t materialize. 

Though China has clear regulations on overtime work, rest and vacation, they are hardly implemented in letter and spirit on the ground. 

The “Labor Law of the People’s Republic of China” implemented in 1995 stipulates that the daily working hours of labourers shall not exceed 8 hours, and the average weekly working hours shall not exceed 44 hours, and emphasizes that “workers shall have the right to rest and vacation.” 

In terms of overtime work, the law stipulates that generally, it shall not exceed 1 hour per day; if it is necessary to extend the working hours due to special reasons, the extended working hours shall not exceed 3 hours per day under the condition of ensuring the health of the workers, but it shall not exceed 36 hours per month, IPCSC reported. 

At the same time, if the employer arranges overtime work, it shall pay overtime pay to the labourer in accordance with the relevant state regulations. 

Though on paper, Chinese labour laws might look favourable to employees, in reality, it is mostly state-owned enterprises that are found to be violating labour laws. 

The publication suggests that Beijing need to pay heed to the demand for basic facilities of its working population. Mounting dissatisfaction among the working class does not augur well for China which is already facing a resource crunch as is evident from the downslide of its economy. 

Moreover, Beijing must keep in mind that it is bound to obey international labour laws and guarantee universal basic human rights to all its citizens, as per the report in IPCSC.