At a time when even college students find it extremely difficult to get a job, employees are in a very unfavorable situation. In order to keep their jobs, they have to try everything possible to satisfy their employers. Therefore, despite the right granted by law, they choose to keep silent even if they never receive overtime payments.

It's great that there are now laws in favor of workers. Nevertheless, if related government departments do not take action to supervise the overtime payment issue, most companies will turn a blind eye to it. The fact that employees asking for overtime payments got fired clearly shows the unfavorable position workers hold in their relationship with employers.

Dazhong Daily

Beggars Are Also Human

South China's Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, is to host the Asian Games in 2010. But there is a concern among local residents that the many migrant beggars in the city will destroy its image in the eyes of the world. As a result, a lawmaker at the Guangzhou Municipal People's Congress recently suggested the government evict all migrants without stable jobs and fixed residences to their hometowns before the games.

It seems that in the quest to maintain a neat city, the rights of the underrepresented group are totally neglected.

For years migrant beggars have been a social stigma and rehabilitation work is slow in coming in China. The social status of those people is at an all-time low. As they have no means to exploit their potential, they will never be able to change their fate. However, protection of the dignity of a person is the basic tenet of any social system.

No one has the right to force other people to abandon the lifestyles of their own choice. Therefore, the answer is not to evict migrant beggars but to offer them help, which is the fundamental approach to improve their livelihood.

Yangzi Evening News

Wasted Young Lives

A township boarding school in northwest China's Shaanxi Province witnessed a serious gas poisoning accident on December 2. Eleven students were killed. The oldest was only 11 years old.

Although this school's principal and responsible teachers have been arrested and will face punishment for dereliction of duty, the young lives will never be retrieved.

The risk of using coal stoves as a heating source in winter is widely known and more importantly, this is a dorm filled with children. Is the school really so indifferent toward the students' safety?

The fact is, many schools never give their students safety training in the event of an emergency, because managers and teachers there believe their only task is to train as many high-scoring students as possible. As long as no severe injury or death occurs, it's all right. However, what's the value of high scores once students lose their lives?

Schools' indifference toward emergency safety training and the lack of relevant knowledge on the part of students have jointly resulted in a series of catastrophes on campus. It's expected that education authorities take immediate and tangible actions to ensure the safety of our younger generation.

Tianjin Evening News