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Trade union leader warns about low wages

BEIJING, May 13 (UPI) -- Millions of workers in China are burdened by low wages and long working hours that pose a threat to social stability, a trade union official warned.

Zhang Jianguo, head of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions' collective contracts department, said workers also face poor working conditions, China Daily reported.

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"Low pay, long working hours and poor working conditions" have resulted in conflicts and mass incidents between labor and management "to occur more frequently in recent years, which has already become a major factor affecting current social stability," Zhang said.

In an interview posted on the union's Web site, he said the percentage of wages and salaries making up China's gross domestic product has been shrinking since it peak of 56.5 percent in 1982 to about 36 percent in 2005.

"The proportion has not changed too much since then. In contrast, the proportion of returns on capital in GDP had risen by 20 percent during the period from 1978 to 2005," Zhang said.

Official figures show annual wages of workers in urban areas increased from $1,819 in 2002 to $4,280 in 2008, but Zhang said the gap between the rich and poor has been widening and is also growing between urban and rural areas and between different industries.

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The union's Web site said 25 percent of those answering a survey said their wages have not increased in the past five years. Seventy-five percent of the respondents said the current income distribution is unfair.

Zhang said many "cadres of trade unions fail to adequately protect workers' rights," making it difficult to promote more collective contracts to benefit more workers.

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