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OPINION> EDITORIALS
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Triumph of labor
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-01 07:30
As the nation of 1.3 billion immerses itself in the 60th anniversary celebrations of the People's Republic, extolling its great leaders and heroes, there is one group that should not be missed. This is a section of people who deserve our special salute. They are the vital force propelling our economic boom in the last 30 years. They work harder than anyone else, yet they demand and receive very little in return. They number more than 200 million. The migrant workers, or farmer workers or nongmingong as they are called in Chinese, should also be the stars as we celebrate the National Day holidays. None of our achievements in the past three decades would have been possible without these migrant workers. They build new apartments for hundreds of million Chinese. They construct roads, railways, bridges and tunnels. They give shape to engineering marvels such as the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, Three Gorges Dam, Beijing's Bird's Nest, Shanghai's Lujiazui skyline, and the 36-km-long bridge across the Hangzhou Bay. They are the backbone of the country's competitive export industry as an estimated 80 million of them work long hours for low wages in factories and on assembly lines. They have also contributed to the country's massive foreign currency reserve of $2 trillion, which gives the nation great assurance in times of global financial crisis. These people are essential for the smooth operation of our cities and our families, as they wait in restaurants, deliver milk, clean our streets and tidy our homes. Statistics show that migrant workers make up over 60 percent of the workforce in manufacturing industries, over 50 percent in retail and catering businesses and about 80 percent in the construction sector. So while we recognize migrant workers for their great contribution to the country's economic and social progress, we should congratulate them on this national holiday whenever we see them. Many of them might still be sweating during the holidays at key construction sites and numerous restaurants, with their families left behind in the countryside. Our appreciation should definitely go beyond words. Each of us should ask what we can do for migrant workers. Would you smile at them and say thank you the next time you see them? Would you embrace them as our brothers and sisters and an equal member of our society? Would you help secure their rights, such as their rights to labor protection and their children's rights to equal education? And would you advocate vigorously that these great heroes of our nation should not be left behind in benefiting from the country's social and economic progress? There are a million of things we can do for migrant workers. It would be no hype to have a Migrant Workers Day in the year, in order to honor their contribution and remind us what we should do for these heroes.
(China Daily 10/01/2009 page5) |
