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Beijing to establish office to resolve migrant worker issues

BEIJING, Aug. 19 -- To better handle issues concerning the 3 million or so farmers-turned-workers in the capital, Beijing municipal government will establish a new department as part of its current government-restructuring reform.

The Migrant Workers'Office will replace the existing joint-department office, which has been mostly, but not solely, in charge of issues pertaining to migrant workers, an official with the Beijing Municipal Commission Office for Public Sector Reform told the Global Times Tuesday.

The move, according to analysts, appears to be a localized version of the nationwide establishment last year of the Department of Migrant Workers’ Affairs, which operates under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

The move will provide a channel for migrant workers to make their voices heard, while helping resolve their concerns, the official said, conceding that,"the office will have no administrative enforcement power and can only submit the issues to relevant departments."

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Beijing's migrant workers, like those in other metropolitan cities, live in the lowest level of the society. Vulnerable to social injustice, they often have inadequate access to effective means to protect themselves.

The latest action seems to be appealing to some migrant workers, who ranked timely payments as their top concern. However, getting the word out about the new department also appears to be needed, as many migrant workers don’t know how to access it, the Global Times has found.

Around 147 million migrant workers had moved to cities for job opportunities by June, but more than 4 million have yet to find work, according to Wang Yadong, a senior official in the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security's employment section, who commented on the issue earlier this month.

Migrant workers, most of whom are believed to have fueled the country's service industry, often find themselves at a disadvantage when competing with their urban counterparts for work, due to insufficient education and ineligibility for the urban welfare system. Sometimes they are easily subjected to company infringements on their legal rights.

Beijing to establish office to resolve migrant worker issues