Chinese lawmakers called on Friday for legislation to protect the nation's huge number of rural migrant workers.

"This year's government work report has given unprecedented importance to farmers seeking work in urban areas by vowing to secure their legitimate rights,'' said Wang Chunlan, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) -- China's top legislature.

On Wednesday, Premier Zhu Rongji pledged to protect the legitimate rights and interests of farmer-labourers holding temporary or permanent jobs in cities.

"We like that, but that's not enough,'' the legislator said on Friday. "We need to have a law guaranteeing that this vow will not be made in vain.''

Wang, a renowned professor from East China's Anhui Province, and at least 90 other lawmakers attending the ongoing first session of the 10th NPC have signed several motions urging prompt legislation on the issue.

"Through working in urban areas, farmers are able to add to their savings while contributing dramatically to local economic development,'' said Wang. "But they have little choice of jobs and enjoy fewer rights compared with urban residents.''

The number of rural migrant workers in big cities exceeded 94 million last year, Vice-Minister of Agriculture Qi Jingfa said on Friday.

Farmers, particularly those in Central and West China, have seen more than half of the increase in their incomes come from salaries earned in urban areas.

But many migrant workers are either paid late or not at all, partly because they failed to sign contracts beforehand or because their bosses offer a range of excuses, said Yuan Congfa, deputy director of the China Centre for Town Reform and Development.

For years, rural migrant workers have been limited to taking jobs in big cities that local residents reject as dirty or dangerous, such as on construction sites, Yuan said.

Wang added that much of the problem also stems from poor education and lack of legal consciousness of many migrant workers.

Many were likely to produce low-quality goods or services, or possibly turn to crime, he said.

Since the existing Labour Law and work safety laws fail to cover the host of new problems facing migrant workers, Wang said new legislation should be drawn up to ensure equal treatment of migrant workers with their urban counterparts.

Jiang Deming, a legislator from East China's Jiangsu Province, said migrant workers should be covered by the nation's social security system, just like urban residents.

Jiang also said the new law should prompt labour and social security authorities to establish a system monitoring wage payments and punishing lawbreaking bosses.

Dai Baozhong, 31, a farmer from Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province said: "We certainly welcome such a law, but we are afraid that it might take a long time to come out and be hard to implement.''

Liu Zhenwei, another NPC deputy -- also a divisional director of the Ministry of Agriculture -- said only 10 per cent of rural migrant workers had been trained before they went to the cities.

Rural migrant workers also had to pay extra fees to enroll their children in urban schools or simply not send the youngsters to school at all.

While urban authorities should rectify policy discrimination towards the farmers, rural governments should also provide much-needed training -- including dissemination of work skills and legal knowledge -- to those who want to work in urban areas, said Liu.

(China Daily)