By Zhang Ming'ai 

Alan Neal, Professor of the School of Law of the University of Warwick, believes that to some extent migrant workers, a special social group in China, still lack access to justice in safeguarding their rights due to the Hukou registration system.

Professor Neal expounded his understanding of the new Labor Contract Law of China in a lecture delivered at the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social sciences on November 13, 2008. He had participated in discussions held by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security when drafting the Labor Contract Law.

Alan Neal, Professor of the School of Law of the University of Warwick, delivers a lecture at the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social sciences on November 13, 2008. (China.org.cn)

According to Professor Neal, migrant workers still do not have full access to health services, schooling, family support, and housing due to the Hukou system.

A provision was made in the Employment Promotion Law this May to prevent discrimination against migrant workers. But an effective legal mechanism enabling migrant workers to seek justice against discrimination has not yet been put in place.

For instance, a migrant worker who works in a major city such as Beijing, Shanghai or Shenzhen cannot enjoy social welfare benefits there because he does not have an urban Hukou. If he loses his job without being paid he has access to labor arbitration to enforce his rights, but labor arbitration takes time. Usually a labor arbitration case will take at least 45 days or even longer. Being unemployed and without money or any social support, the worker cannot afford to live in a big city for 45 days. In most cases he will abandon his efforts to pursue his rights through labor arbitration and be forced to go back to his hometown. Therefore he will lose his access to justice.

(China.org.cn November 14, 2008)