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Breakthroughs in new disputes arbitration law underlined
BEIJING—Chinese Vice Minister
of Labor and Social Security Sun Baoshu hailed the newly-adopted law on
labor dispute mediation and arbitration as vital to “efficient and just
legal remedy to laborers.”
The new law takes effect on May 1, 2008, which aims at “fair and timely”
settlement of disputes and lower costs for workers seeking to safeguard
their rights. “The new law reduced the cost of initiating a labor
dispute. According to the stipulation, the mediation and arbitration of
labor disputes will be free of charge.” Sun made the remarks in an
interview with Xinhua recently.
The valid period is extended from 60 days to one year between the
occurrence of a dispute and the application for arbitration, in order to
avoid the situation in which the unknowing employees miss the
application deadline and lose the chance for an arbitration, Sun said.
The changes that helps protect the labor rights also include a cut down
on arbitration period, whose actual process was often long and therefore
expensive. China’s modern labor arbitration system began in 1987,
leading to the establishment of procedures to cope with labor disputes
through the steps of “mediation, arbitration and trial.” Regulations on
labor-management disputes and the Labor Law were promulgated in 1993 and
1994.
The procedures and practices for dealing with labor disputes have won
wide public acceptance. According to NPC statistics, labor disputes have
risen continuously in recent years. Those statistics also show that
labor dispute arbitration organizations at various levels dealt with
1.72 million cases involving 5.32 million employees from 1987through
2005, with a growth rate of 27.3 percent annually. China’s top
legislature ended its week-long bimonthly session on Saturday morning,
approving the nomination of the new minister of commerce and adopting a
number of bills, including one to raise the monthly individual income
tax levy threshold.
Lawmakers voted to approve the nomination of Chen Deming, former
governor of Shaanxi Province, as the new minister of commerce. Chen,
born in 1949, replaces 58-year-old Bo Xilai, who was appointed Communist
Party chief of the southwestern Chongqing municipality on Dec. 1. The
amendment to the tax law raises the monthly individual income tax levy
threshold from 1,600 yuan (218 U.S. dollars) to 2,000 yuan. The change
was intended to ease the burden for low- and middle-income earners in
light of recent increases in consumer prices. The amendment will take
effect on March 1, 2008. The law on individual income tax has been
amended three times over the past five years. In October, 2005, the
Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) amended the
law to raise the individual income tax levy threshold from 800 yuan to
1,600 yuan.
Last June, the legislature changed the law again to authorize the State
Council to suspend or reduce the 20-percent tax on interest earned on
personal savings, depending on economic and social conditions. “The
three amendments were made to offset the increase of people’s living
expenses and aimed at easing the tax burden of medium- and low-income
families,” Wu Bangguo, NPC Standing Committee chairman, said at the
closing session.
Lawmakers also voted to adopt a decision on issues related to methods
for selecting the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region (HKSAR) and forming the HKSAR Legislative Council
in 2012 and on issues relating to universal suffrage. Wu said that the
adoption of the methods was an important decision made by the NPC
Standing Committee regarding the development of Hong Kong’s political
system. He said the decision was significant to comprehensively
implement the principle of “one country, two systems,” “Hong Kong people
governing the HKSAR,” and the high degree of autonomy, as well as the
HKSAR Basic Law.—Xinhua |
