Law enforcement bodies join hands against wage delays (2)

"We will continue to open 'green channels' to address wage-related labor disputes and strive to complete handling those cases before the festival," he said.

Grassroots labor authorities have also been asked to finish handling wage-delay cases that involve more than 10 workers within the day after they receive the report.

The 12 ministry-level departments will cooperate to deal with malicious wage delays.

The country made malicious wage delays a crime last year. Malicious delay is legally defined as employers transferring capital to avoid paying workers or refusing to pay outright.

Chen Zhong, chief engineer of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said at the conference that his ministry will work to ensure that project investors pay construction companies in time, thus giving them no excuse to delay paying workers.

"We will record the names of companies that pay workers late and make them public to increase the cost of violating labor laws," he said.

Chen said his ministry will strive to make labor contracts cover more workers.

A report by Beijing Normal University showed that only 33 percent of construction workers in the capital have signed labor contracts.

Chen said they will also seek to provide legal assistance to migrant workers to help them get their wages.

Feng Zhenglin, vice-transport minister, said his ministry has also been working to make workers sign labor contracts with employers to ensure that they receive pay on a monthly basis as part of a broader goal to avoid wage delays.

"We are asking transportation facility constructors to sign labor contracts with workers and give workers bank cards so migrants can be paid every month," he said. "For workers who temporarily work on a project, they are also asked to sign temporary labor contracts with employers, and the two parties should discuss the wages and how they are paid."