FRAUDULENT PRACTICE: Wal-Mart's chain stores in Chongqing have been fined 2.69 million yuan ($426,000) for selling consumers ordinary pork as organic (XINHUA)

Commercial Fraud

In response to the fraudulent practice of selling common pork as green or organic, and selling it for higher prices at Wal-Mart's chain stores in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, the local industrial and commercial bureau has confiscated the stores' illegal revenues, fined them 2.69 million yuan ($426,000), and the stores have been ordered to suspend operations for 15 days.

Organic food is defined as clean and safe food produced in the correct ecological environment in accordance with certain quality criteria. It is supposed to be approved by special supervision agencies. But the fact is that the process of production, delivery to stores and appraisal of such food is not open to the public. Unlike many other commodities, where a difference in quality can be discerned by observation and taste, it's hard to tell organic food from common food. Organic and common pork look and taste almost the same, but the former is much more expensive. So it is the duty of supervision departments to ensure the quality of organic food.

In this case, Wal-Mart was exposed for fraud. What about other supermarkets? It voices another call for responsible quality watchdogs in China.

Xinmin Evening News

Pay for Overtime

Whenever holidays arrive, overtime pay is always a hot topic. According to the law, if people work during the weeklong National Day holiday (October 1-7), they should be paid three times the usual payment during the first three days and twice the amount for the remaining four days. The regulation sounds good, but not many benefit from it.

Civil servants and those who work for state-owned enterprises and big foreign companies of course are paid. However, employees in small and medium-sized private companies are not so lucky. Most of them only manage to take October 1 off and they usually do not ask for overtime pay.

Indeed, laws stipulate companies must pay overtime to those who work during legal holidays, and if they refuse to, employees can use legal means to protect their legitimate rights and interests. The question is, if employees in some small and medium-sized private companies do this, they might not be able to return to the companies. Worse still, since it is a general procedure in most companies, even if they leave one company for another, it's not certain they will be paid.

Nowadays, subordinated to life pressures, many people choose to retain their jobs and give up normal life. No one will risk losing a job for overtime holiday wages. It's better for labor departments to stop their empty calling for use of legal means, but do something tangible to help workers to receive their overtime wages.

Yangcheng Evening News

Imposed Charity

It has been reported that in some cities such as Shenyang and Xi'an, students in primary and middle schools have been forced to join the Red Cross Society and to pay membership fees. Although the Red Cross Society says these students do so of their own free will, it's hard to believe children will suddenly think of joining this organization without the schools suggesting it.

It's great to encourage children to participate in charitable causes, but improper methods probably miss the goal. Charity is supposed to be motivated by internal sympathy for the weak and an action of free will. An imposed contribution to charity may help to amass a huge amount of social resources, but the spirit of doing so will never sustain.

Primary and middle school students without any economic resources totally depend on their parents for living. They have pure souls, and helping them express their love and sympathy to the weak needs proper guidance. But, to force them to enter an organization and charge them fees is guiding students in the opposite direction. They have to ask money from their parents, and sometimes even compete with each other in membership fees. Gradually, they might begin to resist "charity," instead of embracing it.

This enforced charity will affect the charitable organizations' creditability and is harming long-term development of charity causes.

Qilu Evening News

Lack in Technicians

At the 41st World Skills Competition in London in October, or the Skills Olympics, China fell far behind other countries. It only won a silver medal for welding, which is the country's first medal in over 60 years at the competition.

This silver medal brings not much joy to the Chinese, because it implies that China, dubbed "the world's top manufacturer," is backward in working techniques. What has led to this result? The key is the lack of respect for skilled tradesmen in Chinese society. Take the silver medal winner Pei Xianfeng as an example. Born in a rural area, he had to give up college for a technical school, and later developed excellence in his trade. His experience is typical of Chinese tradesmen. Sometimes they have to change to other careers so as enjoy a better standard of living.

In Germany and Switzerland, an excellent tradesman enjoys the same social status as college teachers and government workers. It's a worry China's manufacturing will retreat after it has used up its population dividend in 20 years. In China, only 5 percent of the entire mass of tradesmen are senior technicians while in Japan the proportion is 35 percent. Bad technique will seriously affect business competitiveness.

If we have the same enthusiasm for working technique as for sports and industries, more Chinese will be able to win medals in the Skills Olympics.

Global Times