Pearl River Delta cities will jointly crack down on employers not paying workers on time or not buying work-related insurance for their employees, a Shenzhen official said yesterday.
Delays in salary payments had become the biggest source of labour disputes across the delta region in recent years, Shenzhen Labour and Social Security Bureau vice-director Yuan Jianyong said.
Many employers, including those from Hong Kong, had deliberately withheld salaries for months to stop workers switching jobs.
Some small-scale factories even used this method to cheat workers of their salaries by shutting down their operations after a few months and moving to a neighbouring city, leaving employees without pay or compensation.
Failing to buy workplace insurance was also common, said Mr Yuan.
Such abusive treatment has given the delta region a bad name and caused social unrest, as disgruntled workers often vent their anger on local governments.