The Supreme People's Court has issued a circular instructing
subordinate courts to accelerate lawsuits brought by migrant
workers to recover unpaid wages.
The circular said local courts should deal promptly with
lawsuits brought by migrant workers on unpaid wages. Once the cases
are concluded, the courts should ensure that court verdicts are
enforced in a timely manner.
The Supreme People's Court (SPC) also urged local courts to
supervise local governments so that cases involving money owed to
both migrant rural workers and to construction companies can be
liquidated.
The SPC requested that courts at local levels offer judicial
assistance to litigants who have difficulty obtaining money owed to
them.
About 120 million migrant rural workers make their living in
China's booming cities and many of them work in high-risk,
labor-intensive industries.
Defaults on payments to migrant workers mainly occur in the
construction industry. This problem has affected the income of the
rural population for a long time and is considered a "chronic
illness" affecting and undermining social stability.
There are no official figures on the total amount of unpaid
wages owed to migrant workers. But statistics released by the CPC
Central Commission for Discipline Inspection show that, at the end
of June 2006, construction companies were owed a total of 117
billion yuan.
(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2006)