(CRI English)
Updated: 2008-01-03 15:23

China's new Labor Contract Law has come into effect on January 1, 2008. While the protection of labor rights has obviously been strengthened with the implementation of this new law, the government is urged to pay due attention to the interests of enterprises.

The newspaper Beijing News carries a commentary, saying that while the government is making efforts to protect the interests of workers, it should avoid going to the other extreme.

In the past, the government tends to over-protect the interests of enterprises in a bid to promote economic development. While the government now stresses a lot on the responsibilities of enterprises in the new Labor Contract Law, it should continue its support for enterprises, since improvement in labor protection would raise production costs.

The paper says that the government could serve as an outside force to balance the interests of enterprises and employees by taking effective measures.

For one thing, the government is urged to accelerate reform of the residential system so that workers can move more flexibly to maximize their working value.

The government is also urged to break the monopoly of some big enterprises so that small and medium-sized ones can have better opportunities to grow.