Few workers are as lucky

Videos
Photos

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-14 08:18

Many significant improvements have been made for treatment of those migrant workers who worked for Olympics projects, and we should sustain these improvements and further promote them in the whole country, says an article in Procuratorial Daily. The following is an excerpt:

These rural workers who worked on constructions of Olympic projects were paid an average monthly salary of about 2,500 yuan while the highest would be double that amount, and during construction, facilities such as library, mini-market and movie room were provided for their benefits.

However, such a series of comprehensive and considerate treatments of these few but lucky migrant workers also prompt us to reflect on the ill-treatment many migrant workers in the country may usually come across.

These lucky men were actually offered a comfortable environment in exercising their economic rights, cultural rights and the rights of protecting their physical and mental health. But in contrast, what other rural workers not working on Olympics-related have been experiencing so far leaves much room for improvement.

Typical problems are that workers cannot get their salary on time, or the amount is illegally deducted, and many of them have no social securities. They face great difficulties in sending their children to school in cities where they currently live and work. They have the longest working timetable with the hardest work and poor working conditions, and little respect.

We have every reason to promote Olympics-standard treatment as a model for the whole country.

(China Daily 08/14/2008 page10)