Good News for Workers, Bad News for Turtles

Years in the making—or at least in the debating—the idea of self-scheduled paid vacations is finally making progress in China.

But, this being China, there is a catch.

Draft regulations from the Legislative Affairs Office of China's State Council all employees of "government organs, civil organizations, enterprises, and public-service institutions" would be entitled to five paid days off after their first anniversary in their jobs.

After a mere decade on the job, employees would be eligible for 10 days off each year. Workers with 20 years on the clock would receive 15 days. It's almost enough to make a Wal-Mart employee weep.

Added bonus: Legal holidays and weekends will not be deducted from paid vacation.

Here's the catch: The new paid vacation time would be deducted from the "golden week" mass holidays established in 2000. They will also be deducted from vacations designed for employees to visit out of town parents or spouses.

Still, it's progress of a sort. China has been debating paid vacations at least since 1991. In July of that year, the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council declared that workers were entitled to vacations of up to two weeks.

Nothing happened right away, but the idea was affirmed in 1995, with the enactment of the Labor Contract Law. Among other things, it said that employees who have worked for more than one year should get a paid vacation.

The law instructed the State Council to make it happen. And, lo, only 12 years later, the council's draft regulation has been issued. Employers and employees now have 10 days to weigh in on the plan.

Certainly workers would not be happy to see the end of "golden week" holidays. Most have been in favor of scrapping them for several years, in no small measure because giving the entire country vacations at the same time led to predictable overcrowding at airports, train stations, and tourist attractions.

The country's National Holiday Office notes that major Chinese tourist attractions are overwhelmed by two or three times as many visitors as they can safely accommodate.

Sometimes, the consequences are tragic: A crush of tourists squished an "immortal turtle" at a zoo in Hubei province, China Daily reported in 2004. Too many vacationers, it seems, were trying to gain some divinity from the creature.

by Mark Stein