Management of Temporary Workers

China Newsweek
June 17

On May 31, eight urban management workers in Yan'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, had a scuffle with a bicycle shop owner and his employees while they were on duty.

An official statement of the urban management department later said that only two of the eight workers are full-time employees, while the other six are temporary workers. In China, temporary workers in governmental departments have become a tricky phenomenon. Some of them inflict violence when enforcing law.

Although they ease the labor shortage of the governmental departments that hire them, they also put the latter into a dilemma. If they really are temporary workers, the government goes against the Labor Contract Law in hiring them; if they have signed a contract with the government, then the government should be responsible for their behavior.

Outsourcing public power seems to facilitate management in the short term; however, it may cause bigger management difficulties in the future. In a legalistic society, the government's administrative responsibilities should not be given up or transferred. Hiring temporary workers to enforce the law not only contributes to inefficiency in certain departments, but more importantly reduces the government's authority.

Intensive Land Use

Outlook Weekly
June 24

With the rapid development of China's urbanization, the tension between land supply and demand has become increasingly tight. On the one hand, the country's land reserve is nearing the "red line" of 1.8 billion mu (120 million hectares); on the other hand, wide roads, large public squares and industrial parks that are incompatible with city size are eating away at the arable land.

If such an extensive method of land use continues, land resources will eventually be exhausted due to fast-paced urbanization and industrialization. The only solution is to transform the land use model into an intensive one.

Practices in Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces have both proved that intensively using land improves productivity and injects strong impetus to development. It should also be noted that such a process should guarantee farmers' interests. 

Carpool Policies

Qilu Evening News
July 1

Beijing plans to encourage citizens to commute by carpool as a way of easing the city's heavy traffic pressure, according to reports. The municipal government is now working on a variety of incentives to encourage carpooling.

Beijing has developed a reputation worldwide for its notorious traffic jams. Against this reality, carpooling sounds like a reasonable alternative on paper. However, questions remain over the plan's legality and how to implement fees into the service. Car owners now run the risk of being punished for unlawfully operating their vehicles in a carpool mode. The unresolved fee issue has become a major obstacle in implementing such a program in the city.

The city government is going to release some guidelines on carpooling by the end of this year. Beijing's action not only benefits itself, but also serves as a significant reference for other big cities across the country. With the rapid pace of urban construction, many cities are now faced with the same traffic woes as in Beijing. Municipal governments across China must now consider how to safeguard the rights of both car owners and passengers in order to ensure a lawful carpool practice.

Petition Online

People's Daily
July 1

The State Bureau for Letters and Calls, a Central Government department that handles complaints, opened an online petition system on its official website on July 1. This new channel of petitioning will help people better file complaints against governmental departments and improve the latter's efficiency in handling citizen concerns.

The official online petition is convenient for both citizens and the government. Petitioners are able to ask higher authorities to help resolve their difficulties on the Internet without traveling hundreds and even thousands of miles to the gate of the governmental department. On the other hand, the new online petition system will allow the government to better track, supervise and respond to complaints, all under the surveillance of the public.

Enhancing the ties between citizens and the government is an important objective of the online petition system. In recent years, citizen petitions have become a hot topic in the country. Facts show that if the government cannot handle petitions well, relations between the government and the people will inevitably suffer. Online petitions are a way for the underprivileged and governments at all levels to connect.

The Central Government has carried out a series of reforms on the petition system in a bid to alter the way government departments engage the public and protect the lawful interests and rights of the people.