Labour Law of the People's Republic of China

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The Labour Law of the People's Republic of China (simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国劳动法; traditional Chinese: 中華人民共和國勞動法; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Láodòng Fǎ) is the basic labour law of China, which has been enforced since 1995. It was promulgated by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China on July 5, 1994, and came into effect on January 1, 1995.[1]

It is sometimes confused with the Labour Contract Law of the People's Republic of China because of their similar names and focuses, as well as imprecise media reports. As the Labour Contract Law is more recent, having gone into effect January 1, 2008, the Labour Law is also sometimes called the "old labour law", though this is incorrect as both are still in effect simultaneously.[2]

Contents of the law

The law has 107 articles in 13 chapters. The titles of all the chapters are listed below.[3]

  1. General Provisions
  2. Promotion of Employment
  3. Labour Contracts and Collective Contracts
  4. Working Hours, Rests, and Leaves
  5. Wages
  6. Labour Safety and Sanitation
  7. Special Protection for Female Staff and Workers and Juvenile Workers
  8. Professional Training
  9. Social Insurance and Welfare Treatment
  10. Labour Disputes
  11. Supervision and Inspection
  12. Legal Responsibilities
  13. Supplementary Provisions

The purpose of the law, stated by Article 1 in the first chapter, is to "protect the legitimate rights and interests of labourers, readjust labour relationship, establish and safeguard the labour system suiting the socialist market economy, and promote economic development and social progress".

There are 20 articles concerning labour contracts and collective contracts in the third chapter. In 2008, the 98-article-long Labour Contract Law came into effect to further regulate related behaviours.

The law was amended with minor correction in 2009.[4]

Criticism from the public

The law is widely criticised for its defects. This is one of the reasons for the promulgation of the Labour Contract Law which came into effect on January 1, 2008. For example, though collective contract has been put into laws for more than 15 years, collective bargaining is not doing well in China.[5] The term collective negotiation (集体协商) first appeared in laws in 2007, instead of collective bargaining (集体谈判), which is less decisive than the latter.[6]

Related laws

This is a list of related Chinese laws, but does not cover every law related.

References

  1. ^ "laws". www.npc.gov.cn. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  2. ^ "Labor contract law: Is the labor is still those representing capital is greatly" Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved from leshanrc.com.cn
  3. ^ "Labour Law of the People's Republic of China -". english.mofcom.gov.cn. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  4. ^ "中华人民共和国主席令" in Chinese, by Xinhua News Agency, published in www.gov.cn
  5. ^ "Labor Activist: Why China Needs Collective Bargaining Now" by Carlos, T, The Wall Street Journal
  6. ^ "立法會". www.legco.gov.hk. Retrieved 2021-12-31.

External links