Glorious slogans don't benefit workers

A worker at a steel company in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, in January 2015. [Photo/China Daily]

MONDAY was International Workers' Day. In order to celebrate it, many local authorities posted slogans on the street such as "Labor is glorious". However, workers need better protection of their legal rights and interests rather than slogans, says Beijing Youth Daily:

Labor is, of course, glorious because upon it hangs the survival of the whole of human society. And that's why we celebrate May Day－we hope our workers can feel how glorious their labor is.

But in order for workers to truly realize this, there must be better protection of their legal rights and interests. Only with their rights protected, and a fair income ensured, will they feel the glory of their work.

In this respect, there is much to improve. For example, laborers have the right to paid leave according to the law, but a 2015 survey by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security found that only about half of them enjoyed the right in reality.

Some other rights of laborers, such as the right to be paid on time, are also often violated, as media outlets often report companies delay paying the laborers they have hired.

The domestic social welfare system should be improved, too, so that people can work without having to worry about the future. The country is experiencing rapid social transformation, and housing, living and medical costs are all rising. In this case, the social welfare standards must be raised to better help laborers solve the problems they meet in daily lives.

Labor is definitely glorious. But in order to let workers better feel that, it is necessary to better protect their rights and improve the social welfare provided to them.