Li Binsheng: Migrant Workers Should Be Entitled to Paid Vacation

By staff reporter JIAO FENG

Li Binsheng, member of the 12th CPPCC National Committee and former secretary of the All China Federation of Trade Unions secretariat, told the media that multiple flaws exist in China's current paid vacation system. One is its exclusion of migrant workers.

As regards implementation of the paid vacation policy, the situation is better in state-owned enterprises than in private businesses, according to Li. As many as 80.9 percent of SOE employees can take paid leave, compared with 75 percent in foreign companies, 65.8 percent in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao-funded businesses, and 60.3 percent in private mainland companies.

The current law stipulates that a worker has the right to paid vacation only after working for one year in a full-time job under one employer. This means that the large community of migrant workers, who are mostly from the countryside and frequently change jobs, do not qualify. "This social group should also be entitled to paid vacation. At present, around half of the country's 260 million migrant workers are not."