The Federation of Trade Unions in eastern China's Jiangsu Province recently launched a special investigation into the conditions faced by female employees in non-stated-owned enterprises.

It found many cases of labor right infringements, with only a low proportion having contracts, many long extra shifts, and few financial guarantees during pregnancy.

According to an official from the federation's women employee committee, Labor Law stipulates that the relationship between an employer and employee should be detailed in a contract, with a maximum probationary period of six months. However, only 39.2 percent of women workers in Jiangsu had signed contracts; in private enterprises, the rate was just 11.4 percent.

Hiring temporary workers is common in non-state-owned enterprises. Some female employees aren't able to sign a contract until they work for several consecutive years; some even have contract signing set as a reward for performing well. Overly long probationary periods, making it easier to fire and hire staff, are also not uncommon in small and medium-scale catering enterprises.

Extended working hours were also recorded in non-state-owned enterprises. Labor Law restricts one day's working time to eight hours, and to an average of 44 hours per week. Of the 3,915 women surveyed, 50.4 percent work over nine hours per day. Overtime in labor-intensive sectors such as textiles, clothing, toys and services is much longer with some female workers not having a single day off.

In one silk firm, women employees worked 14 hours, 7 days a week and were only allowed to ask for one day's leave without pay each month.

Despite this, 79.9 percent of women couldn't get the overtime wages they are entitled to by law. In many enterprises (44.8 percent of those investigated), workers were paid according to workload, so their wages during holidays, days off and overtime are virtually expropriated.

Women of childbearing age tend to be avoided during recruitment. Unmarried young women and those who have already had children constitute the main part of the female labor force.

For instance, in an electronic business in the south of Jiangsu, 87.4 percent of the total 4,005 women employees were aged under 25 and 56.2 percent under 20. A lot of businesses send pregnant women home without pay until they are able to work again, especially in tertiary industries such as catering, leaving them without any financial security when they need it the most.

(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting, January 3, 2005)