Fan Shusheng was on his way home to central China's Henan Province by train on Monday morning when
Premier Wen Jiabao delivered his annual government work
report to parliament.
The 37-year-old migrant worker listened to the radio on the
train and heard the Premier pledge to extend social security
coverage to migrant workers at the opening ceremony of the annual
session of the National People's Congress (NPC).
"My proposals have been written into Premier Wen's work report!"
an excited Fan told Xinhua on his cell phone.
Fan, 37, was one of a dozen "grassroots personalities" who
attended a State Council meeting earlier this year. On Feb. 6, 12
grassroots representatives from agriculture, technology,
transportation and health sectors were invited to Zhongnanhai, the
Chinese leadership compound, to discuss government work plans ahead
of the Fifth Session of the 10th NPC.
Fan, who has worked at construction sites in Beijing for 16
years, told the Premier he had came across many problems, such as
low income, lack of social security and the difficulty of sending
his daughter to school in Beijing, and suffered discrimination from
urban residents.
"I proposed that the government pay more attention to the
protection of migrant workers' rights and establish policies on
these issues," he said.
"Your suggestions are to the point," Premier Wen told Fan at the
meeting, adding "the number of migrant workers is increasing and
your pension and social security concerns have caught the attention
of the central authorities of the Party and the Central Government,
and we are working on them."
The total number of migrant workers in Chinese cities is
estimated to be around 200 million. A survey released by the
Ministry of Labor and Social Security showed that low wages and
unpaid wages are the biggest headache for the migrant workers.
In Monday's work report, Premier Wen said that the government
should establish a social security system specially designed for
the migrant workers as soon as possible in 2007.
"The system should especially focus on injury and medical care
insurance for serious health concerns," Wen said in the report,
which also deals with the problem of migrant children education by
emphasizing that "all children should receive affordable schooling
and good education."
"I feel that the Premier's promises are directly addressed to
me, as all the new policies target the problems I outlined to the
Premier," Fan said. "I am proud to speak for the migrant worker
group."
Like Fan, Yu Kai, a 47-year-old Beijing taxi driver, who also
attended the meeting on Feb. 6, listened to the report carefully in
his taxi on Monday morning.
"I understand that the Premier cannot say much about the taxi
industry in this report, but I am still satisfied with it," Yu, who
has been driving for 22 years, said when reached by Xinhua over
phone. "The report shows that the government cares about common
people's livelihood," he said.
In fact, soliciting opinions from people from all walks of life
is a decades-old tradition for the government in formulating work
reports or major policies.
Premier Wen has opened the door of Zhongnanhai compound wider in
recent years by inviting people working on farms or in industrial
workshops to discuss government plans.
In last year's government work report, Premier Wen Jiabao
absorbed a suggestion put forward by village doctor Ma Wenfang in
Henan Province on building a new type of rural cooperative medicare
system for villagers.
In this year's report on Monday, the Premier told lawmakers that
this system "has been implemented in 1451, or 50.7 percent of
Chinese counties, covering 410 million people living in rural
areas."
(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2007)