Guangxi Legislative Inspection Committee Denies Hearing of Migrant Labor Rights Bill

The Legislative Inspection Committee of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional People’s Congress recently denied hearing of a bill to protect migrant workers' rights, stating that singling out migrant workers as a separate category of industrial workers would be "untimely." According to a report from Nanning, 11 legislators proposed the new bill, noting widespread abuse of migrant workers' rights, particularly the withholding of their earned wages. The Inspection Committee concluded that migrant workers are simply part of the broader industrial workforce and that designating them a separate category of workers would in fact be condescending and discriminatory. The report noted that in another 10 years, perhaps such new nomenclature might be warranted. The proposals in the bill were relayed to relevant departments as "recommendations" rather than as law.