Labor law issues

Yiwu Sample: Multi-ecology under the New Labor Law

The busy clothing workshop, which should have started in previous years, is still empty.

The time is February 27th, the 21st day of the first lunar month. The location is Yiwu, Zhejiang.

Qin Zhi (pseudonym) finally made a slightly painful decision: rejecting the processing order with lower profit and reducing the production capacity by one third.

Qin Zhijia has a large-scale garment factory in Yiwu, with more than 300 workers and an average annual output of about 700,000 pieces. The Labor Contract Law, which came into effect in June, 5438+this year 10, has new provisions on labor relations. Enterprises must pay four funds for all employees and strictly control working hours. In this way, the new labor price has not been reached so far. At present, most Yiwu enterprises have not recruited enough workers and have been unable to start work.

On the other hand, the labor market of Xiangshan Road in Yiwu is crowded, and a large number of migrant workers gather here to find new employers. For them, the price offered by the bosses this year is not equal to all their income. According to the provisions of the Labor Contract Law, workers have to pay part of the social security while obtaining stable contracts and higher prices. They have doubts about whether this part of the money will eventually reach them, and many people are reluctant to sign labor contracts for this reason.

This labor contract law, known as the "new labor law", continues to cause shock among enterprises and workers. In Yiwu, a small commodity economy dominated by labor-intensive industries, labor costs, exchange rates and raw material prices have risen at the same time, which has amplified the difficulty of implementing the new law to some extent.

"I think these are temporary. The implementation of the new labor law is to guide Yiwu enterprises to achieve industrial upgrading. " Huang Yunlong, director of the Employment Management Office of Yiwu Labor and Social Security Bureau, said. He believes that a good law should be forward-looking and instructive.

The troubles of processing enterprises

Like most small and medium-sized enterprises in Yiwu, the labor relations in Qin Zhi factory used to be maintained by verbal agreement-as long as the workers and the factory agreed on the price orally, they would come to work directly without signing any labor contract.

Under the "conventional" mode, the social security department of Yiwu distributes the social security index issued by Zhejiang Province every year according to the evaluation of enterprises, which is roughly 10% of the total number of factory employees. Among the 300 employees in Qin Zhi factory, only 60-70 places that need to pay four gold were allocated in three years.

However, according to Article 82 of the new Labor Law, if the employer fails to conclude a written labor contract with the employee for more than one month but less than one year from the date of employment, it shall pay the employee twice the monthly salary.

Qin Zhi roughly calculated that starting from this year, the factory will give each employee more than 200 yuan of "four gold" every month, which will cost more than 900,000 yuan a year. This increase in labor costs has reduced the profit of a single garment from 2-3 pieces to less than 2 pieces.

Since the liberalization of the exchange rate, the exchange rate of RMB against the US dollar has climbed to 7. 14. "The profit within 2 yuan is basically equivalent to not making money."

"It turned out that in the off-season, we also received processing orders with lower gross profit. Even in a tie, employees can get paid. I can't pick it up now, and the more I get, the more I lose. " Qin Zhi said.

After calculation, Qin Zhi decided to control the output this year at around 400,000-500,000 pieces, and cut the production capacity by one third. Working hours have also been reduced from 13 hours to 8 hours, "one third of the employees will definitely be laid off".

He Haimei is one of the earliest businessmen in Yiwu commodity market. On many occasions, she is the representative of Yiwu small commodity economy "starting from scratch". At present, Kong Mei Garment Co., Ltd. under her name has more than 65.438 million employees.

Last year, the salary she paid to the workers ranged from 1500 yuan to 2,000 yuan per month, but it seems difficult to guarantee this price this year.

"The new labor law stipulates that overtime must be paid. If strictly implemented, the assembly line work can only be arranged according to 8 hours a day, and the salary will be reduced. " Workers in He Haimei's factory generally work by piece, with an average of more than 0 hours per day/kloc-0. According to her estimation, after the working hours are adjusted to 8 hours, the salary she can offer will be reduced by 400-500 yuan.

Article 82 of the new Labor Law stipulates that if the normal working hours exceed 8 hours, the labor administrative department will limit the payment of overtime pay within a time limit. This regulation on working hours is also in conflict with labor-intensive industries, which take piecework as the main workload statistics method.

"I heard that many enterprises in the Pearl River Delta have closed down?" Qin Zhi asked the reporter anxiously.

In Yiwu's past experience, cheap labor and long working hours have always been one of its competitive weights. In the early days of its rapid rise, this extraordinary growth mode brought amazing speed.

But always relying on low prices is not a long-term solution.

"A mature enterprise needs stable labor relations, not excessively cheap labor and long working hours." Huang Yunlong said that the legislative purpose of the labor contract law that has been implemented is to protect workers' labor rights and interests, so as to establish stable labor relations. "This is consistent with the interests of enterprises. They have tried to stabilize labor relations by improving their own treatment. " The rigid provisions in the new labor law just provide an opportunity for forced transformation.

Workers' choice and distrust

In front of Yiwu talent exchange market, the crowd is bustling. Small business owners who come to recruit have spontaneously queued up. A large number of migrant workers shuttled among them, asking intense questions and bargaining.

This is the largest labor market in Yiwu. Compared with the recruitment in the talent exchange market, the employers who come here are smaller in scale and more inclined to recruit through oral transactions, without any official or intermediary agencies.

After the implementation of the new labor law, the labor price here seems to generally rise, and more migrant workers choose to shop around and wait and see.

"In fact, I can afford four gold, that is, I will give up a little more from my profits to do labor costs. But the key point is that employees don't want to pay four gold, and they don't want to work for eight hours and get a few hundred less. They will resign to those enterprises that do not limit working hours and do not pay four gold. " He Haimei said.

Part of the resistance to signing labor contracts also comes from the labor groups. Although the new labor law can bring more stable labor relations and higher hourly wages, they are still uneasy.

"We pay by the piece. The longer we work, the more we do. Now we stipulate eight hours a day, and the money is much less at once. " A Jiangxi migrant worker who has worked in Yiwu for nearly 7 years said.

"It is best to work day after day." An Anhui migrant worker told reporters, "I don't trust anyone. The boss always has a way to deduct our salary. What's the use of signing a contract? " There is great insecurity in his words.

"What is four gold? This thing has never been handed in. " Anhui migrant workers said. After the reporter explained, he said that he came out to make money. He is here today and may be there tomorrow. It doesn't make much sense if money can't keep up with him.

An employee of Yiwu Yaowu Talent Agency said that there are still many enterprises that do not sign labor contracts with employees.

In Huang Yunlong's view, there are three main reasons why migrant workers are unwilling to sign contracts.

First, the assembly line workers are mainly migrant workers, and their mobility is relatively large. Long-term migrant workers make them unwilling to be bound by contracts year after year. "It feels like signing a deed of sale." By the end of 2007, the registered population of Yiwu was about 800,000, and the foreign population was about 1.07 million, far more than the local population.

Secondly, the part of paying four gold after signing the contract needs to be borne by the individual. "Many foreigners come from rural areas and lack consideration for long-term security. They are not willing to spend money in these areas, preferring to get hundreds of dollars in cash every month. "

The third is the system. Because the social security accounts in different places are not connected, if they change jobs, they will face "surrender" or "transfer and connection", and the difficulty of handling both methods makes migrant workers daunting.

Invisible and tangible hands

In addition to weighing reasonable production capacity, smart business owners in Yiwu began to look for a way out. Powerful enterprises began to withdraw from labor-intensive industries and turn to capital-intensive industries.

Qin Zhi began to actively raise funds to turn to the real estate business, and at the same time reduced the production of the factory. For them, the low-profit clothing industry helped them complete the original capital accumulation. "I can't do a small business for a few dollars."

Langsha Group, a leading enterprise in Yiwu, began to extend its reach to the upstream of the industry. After the successful backdoor listing, Langsha actively entered the high-tech raw material industry relying on relatively abundant capital.

But those small businesses are not so lucky.

Boss Zhu's hometown is Ersanli Town in the east of Yiwu. He represents a typical business model in Yiwu-"family workshop", which is produced and sold by himself. Most of the more than 20,000 enterprises in Yiwu follow this model and make money by "small profits but quick turnover". After the introduction of the new labor law, he was told by the relevant departments that he must sign labor contracts with employees and pay the "four gold" such as pension insurance and unemployment insurance for employees.

"The increased personnel cost is about 5 cents per pair of socks." Zhu said that according to preliminary calculations, after paying the relevant expenses for each employee, the annual net profit will be reduced by at least 6.5438+0.5 million yuan.

Under pressure, Zhu finally decided to reduce the size of the factory. Considering various factors, he also laid off several senior employees.

In Zhu's circle of friends, more and more people began to look for new ways out, some invested in foreign real estate, some entered the catering and entertainment industry, and some started lending business relying on the market.

Since 2007, Huang Yunlong has arranged various trainings and publicized the labor contract law.

As the competent department, he must first let the business owners understand that "the law is not a child's play, and there is no buffer after implementation." In addition to publicity, the labor inspection department has also begun to strictly enforce the law, and all labor disputes are implemented in accordance with the new regulations.

But at the same time, Huang Yunlong also admitted that we must face up to reality. The labor contract law "can't be achieved in one step". "On the one hand, we need to guide enterprises to abide by legal provisions, such as signing contracts for all employees. On the other hand, from the perspective of supporting enterprises, we must let them gradually meet the requirements of the law. "

The local government in Yiwu has realized the urgency. On February 25th, a "Emancipating the Mind" rally attended by 5,000 people was held in Yiwu. At the rally, Wu Weirong, secretary of Yiwu Municipal Party Committee, put forward 10 questions one after another, and pointed out that "all localities are at the same starting line of changing their development models, and there is no ready-made experience, only problem testing. The cadres and masses in Yiwu should strive to blaze a new trail in entrepreneurial innovation and practice of Scientific Outlook on Development with the courage and courage of not being afraid of controversy and being brave in innovation. "