Workers' rights not an enemy to economic growth

A female Chinese worker sews clothes at a garment factory in Huaibei city, east China's Anhui province, on January 20, 2015.[Photo/IC]

Following the central government's repeated calls to guarantee workers' right to paid leave, some local governments are encouraging employees to take a break in an almost compulsory manner. South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region announced in July that local employers, including government departments and private enterprises, will be disqualified from applying for role model titles if they fail to do so. Comments:

In essence, depriving enterprises that fail to carry forward the paid leave policy of their eligibility for awards and titles is far from extreme or radical. Such an assessment-oriented "compulsory" order is aimed at protecting workers' legal interests. As both the Labor Law and the Regulations on Paid Annual Leave of Employees have made it clear that paid leave is a right.

gmw.cn, Aug 8

What has led to the failed implementation of the paid leave regulation is that many officials tend to see workers' rights as an enemy of economic development and turn a blind eye to the Labor Law. Admittedly, a number of enterprises are struggling in the ongoing economic transformation, it is thus necessary for local governments to take moderate measures, such as helping enterprises with their training programs and getting them involved in e-commerce, to protect employees' right to paid leave.

rednet.cn, Aug 9

Forcing workers to have a holiday is not the key to resolving the lack of paid leave. It calls for a public consensus on the necessity of taking paid leave, administrative support from the top down, and trade unions at all levels empowering individual workers to negotiate their rights.

scol.com.cn, Aug 9