An article from the Shanghai Daily entitled, Why Migrant Workers Praise The Law, demonstrates how China's young legal system is maturing and being accepted by the populace. The article is about an underfunded legal-aid station in Xi'an that is providing free legal services to migrant workers who have either been hurt on the job or not paid.
Running with a budget of less than 7,000 yuan (US$972) per month, the Xi'an legal-aid station is hailed as a "beacon" for migrant workers by local media which have tracked the station since its formation last year. It is a joint effort by the United Nations Development Program and the All China Lawyers' Association.
In the past eight months, the station has received 432 call-ins and visits and provided legal aid in more than 120 cases, winning 90 percent-plus of lawsuits.
The typical stereotype espoused by expat lawyers working in China is that the Chinese have a general distrust of the legal system and they don't believe the legal system can provide them with a remedy. I've heard expat lawyers and Chinese lawyers say on numerous occasions that getting a judgment in your favor depends on who you bribe and the strength of your guanxi. These stereotypes of the Chinese legal system are antiquated, and this article is evidence of that fact.
Like other second-tier cities in the Chinese mainland, Xi'an, a famous and ancient location famed for its terracotta soldiers, is in the midst of a massive building boom.
Toting their bedrolls from site to site in Xi'an, the migrant workers only earn about 800 yuan a month.
"They often got paid late or never," said Xi'an legal-aid station lawyer Zhao Bin. Instead of contracts, their jobs often rely on word of mouth from sub-contract bosses who break their promises.
The station recently helped 41 construction workers fight to collect about 90,000 yuan, their half-year earnings for last year. "The work is tougher as they were employed indirectly through sub-contractors or, even worse, via oral promises," said Zhao.
The development of workers' rights is a necessary step in the evolutionary process of any legal system because it forces the general populace to engage the system. The experience of having their rights vindicated creates within them a basic interest in and a trust of the legal system. These sorts of actions will continue to grow in China, forcing the legal system to grow to accommodate the growing number of people turning to the courts. As the Chinese come to expect their contracts to be enforced and a greater transparency in their own laws, the foreign investor can also expect these elements in the Chinese legal system. When? It's happening right now and will continue to evolve over the next 20 to 40 years.
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