Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14) - China (Ratification: 1934)

Article 2 of the Convention. Entitlement to weekly rest. The Committee notes the comments of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which were received on 1 September 2013 and transmitted to the Government on 20 September 2013, concerning the application of the Convention. In its observations, the ITUC draws attention to the fact that the workers’ entitlement to weekly rest in China is easily undermined by employers using national and local rules on flexible and consolidated working-hour schemes to exclude workers from the legal protection on rest and compensation. The ITUC indicates that, under those schemes, which have become commonplace and even the norm in an increasing number of sectors, weekly rest may be replaced by “consolidated rest” arranged unilaterally by employers based on business considerations. The ITUC further alleges that exemptions are often granted by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security with the mere “paper consent” of the enterprise trade union without prior proper consultations with workers.

Moreover, the ITUC refers to the Measures for the Examination and Approval of Flexible Working Hours Arrangement and Consolidated Hours Scheme, adopted in 1995, which allow for the averaging of hours of work without however guaranteeing a reasonable weekly rest day arrangement. Instead of specifying the right to compensatory leave with respect to every seven-day period, the 1995 Measures refer vaguely to “consolidated work and consolidated rest” and, as a result, employees are easily misled by their employers to confuse compensatory leave with annual leave. Furthermore, according to the ITUC, employees are underpaid or not paid at all for performing work on their weekly rest day which should entitle them to 200 per cent of the normal hourly rate under the Labour Law. Finally, the ITUC refers to new draft national rules on working hours which have been prepared by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in May 2012 and draws particular attention to draft section 10 providing for one 24-hour rest day in every period of two weeks in the case of consolidated working hours schemes. The Committee requests the Government to transmit any comments it may wish to make in reply to the observations of the ITUC. The Committee also requests the Government to respond to the points raised in the previous direct request regarding the application of Articles 2, 5 and 6 of the Convention.