The recent cases of U.S. fast-food giants McDonald's and KFC, accused of underpaying and exploiting part-time workers in their Chinese branches, have put labor relations under the spotlight. With deepening market-oriented economic reforms and an increasingly fast-paced integration with the global economy, the working environment in China is undergoing profound changes.

In an exclusive interview with Beijing Review, ProfessorLin Yanling at the China Institute of Industrial Relations discusses the current landscape of China's labor relations, laws governing employee rights and the changing awareness of Chinese workers.

Beijing Review: How do you see the present situation regarding labor relations in China?

Lin Yanling: I feel that people today are getting more concerned with the issue of labor relations.

In detail, the current labor situation in China has taken on three features: increasing market orientation, legalization and internationalization of labor relations.

Under the planned economy, as most employers are state-owned units, disputes between employers and employees were usually solved by administrative means. But the two sides have become two independent ingredients in the labor market since the country's market-oriented reforms in the early 1980s. Labor disputes are mounting year by year but they are now settled by means of regulations of the market mechanism.

In 1995, the Labor Law of the People's Republic of China, the first of its kind in the country, was promulgated and entered into force. Since then China has been constructing a legal system based on the Labor Law to tackle labor disputes and regulate labor relations. In recent years China has created a grand blueprint for building a harmonious society and the protection of benefits for the under-represented groups in society has received unprecedented attention. The mass of common laborers in China are in a disadvantaged position and because of this the development of labor legislation has been put in the fast lane.

The internationalization of labor relations comes from the entry of foreign firms into China and has been enhanced since China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). Besides traditional international practices such as collective negotiation, corporate responsibility is also employed to regulate labor relations.

As an expert on the study of international labor standards, can you illustrate how these standards influence China?

China ratified the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention (1958), on January 12, 2006, which indicates that China is ready to undertake the obligations of the convention. That is to say, it has agreed to eliminate all forms of job discrimination and accept international supervision. The recent upsurge of anti-job discrimination in China is evidence showing that international labor standards are having actual effects on China.

China's Labor Law regulates that laborers should not be discriminated against because of their nationality, race, sex or religion. It is in keeping with the anti-discrimination convention that says that any distinction, exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation is unacceptable.

China's legislative body is also soliciting public opinion on the draft of the Employment Promotion Law, one clause of which says that rural laborers should enjoy the same labor rights as urban ones, and any discriminative limitations on rural employees should be prohibited.

Have you noticed any change in the level of awareness workers have of their rights, and is this constructive for good labor relations?

Awareness about protection of workers' rights and interests is rising with the development of a market-oriented economy and improvements in the legal environment.

In March 2006 China's legislative body asked for public opinion on the draft of the Labor Contract Law and in just a month received 200,000 responses, some of which came from migrant workers who were not so well educated.