New blacklist to supervise employers
By Qiu Quanlin (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-14 06:20

GUANGZHOU: Companies which fail to pay wages owed to its workers are to be named and shamed in a new blacklist.

Twenty firms in Guangdong Province which defaulted on payments were identified in a list made public by authorities in September.

They were ordered to pay the money and outline how it would meet people's wages in the future.

Guangdong Provincial Department of Labour and Social Security has now pledged to target other companies that have failed to meet wage payments as part of a new campaign.

It will also crackdown on the use of child labour and forcing employees to work overtime.

Wang Liwei, an official with the Guangdong labour authority, said it wanted to strengthen efforts to protect the rights of employees and better supervise employers' implementation of labour laws.

"Employers who failed to pay due wages and purchase social insurance for their workers, employed child labourers or forced their employees to work overtime will definitely go on the blacklist during the campaign," Wang told China Daily yesterday.

He added the campaign would last until March next year.

In addition, the labour authority will work together with nine other governmental institutions, including departments of industry and commerce, and public security, to improve the supervision of employers' implementation of labour laws.

In addition to paying back due wages, companies on the blacklist will be given punishments by governmental departments, according to Wang.

"We will also set up a database to keep those employers who violated labour laws on files and it will be open to the public through the media, to let workers know more about their working units," Wang said.

Huakang Dikong Development Co Ltd was one of the 20 employers in the province identified in September as having failed to pay wages for its workers.

The Guangzhou-based real estate company, a shareholder of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), had already made a proposal to the CIRC to open an insurance branch, but it was rejected after the exposure.

"Our business in the real estate sector was also affected," Wu Xiaolong, an official with the company told the China Daily yesterday.

Wu's firm, together with 19 more Guangdong-based employers, were exposed in the first crackdown.

Wu's company was found to have failed to pay wages worth 500,000 yuan (US$61,000) to 30 workers from February to July this year.

The company had to recover their workers' due wages and submit a report to the labour authority on how to pay wages for workers in the future.

"New business is expected to open soon," Wu said.

Wu's company is one of 12 employers who handed over wages owed to workers.

But, by the end of November, the remaining eight firms had still failed to pay back wages due to bankruptcy, sources with the Guangdong labour and security authority said yesterday. "These companies will still appear in the blacklist and we are seeking judicial assistance for their workers or help them find new jobs in the near future," said Wang Liwei, an official with the authority.

Many migrant workers in Guangdong have had to wait for their wages or have been forced to work overtime in recent years due to a lack of legal support.

(China Daily 12/14/2005 page3)