An Overworked Nation

During this May Day holiday, a new phrase was frequently heard throughout China-ultra model workers. These stressed workers put in more than 10 hours every day, with little time off for rest or sleep. They work even harder than traditional model workers.

According to a survey made by Beijing Normal University, in four major Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai, 70 percent of white-collars are overworked.

Although the survey targeted only white-collars, it’s easy to deduce that many more other labor categories must have to work even longer and in poor conditions.

While white-collars are working overtime in buildings equipped with air conditioners, thousands of laborers toil under a broiling sun. While white-collars are found dead from overwork, many other labor groups are also plagued by occupational diseases or the lack of job security.

It was revealed by Outlook Weekly that by the end of 2006, 670,000 occupational disease cases had been reported across China, 140,000 of these being lung diseases. From 1991 to 2006, the number of poisoning cases alone reached 38,412. In China, over 200 million people are exposed to the danger of occupational diseases.

As more and more people work extended hours, the problem can no longer be simply explained as a result of increasing social pressure. It is possible that China’s labor resources are being over exploited. The irrational system of the economic development model can also be blamed.

In order to save labor costs, companies pay little attention to worker welfare. Meanwhile, low investment in equipment upgrades results in low production efficiency. Under these circumstances, high productivity has to depend on workers’ overtime.

Besides, when some local officials only care about GDP growth, it’s impossible for them to spend time on the improvement of people’s livelihood. As a result, laborers, white-collars and migrant workers alike, have to work overtime to create enough wealth for their health and old age security.

More importantly, a deficient legal system makes it possible for the overexploitation of human resources to exist for years to come. Death from overwork is still not mentioned in China’s occupational disease-related laws.

When working this hard becomes a common phenomenon, there must be something wrong with the protective procedures of labors’ legitimate rights.

The Beijing News