A number of ministries, including the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Water Resources, have responded in the last week to various issues of public concern.

Increase in pay for key sector

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said on June 21 that it will take measures to ensure technological workers’ pay rises at a reasonable rate.

The ministry said it will push forward a mechanism in which workers can conduct collective negotiation with enterprises for wages and pay rises.

It will also step up an inquiry into wages at enterprises and improve norms for publishing the results of such inquiries.

The authority will also push forward the reform in the salary mechanism of State-owned enterprises. SOEs will be guided to establish a basic salary mechanism.

They will also be required to determine the wage level of different technological posts.

Enterprises will be encouraged to give workers equity rights, or allow workers to become shareholders through scientific and technological contributions.

China is facing a sharp shortage of technological workers with the number at 165 million, which is only 21.3 percent of the total workforce. The number of high-caliber technological workers is about 47 million, which is about 6 percent of the workforce.

Water transport safety enhanced

China will step up management of water transport to further enhance safety, the Ministry of Transport said on June 19.

The ministry said in a notice that it has urged water transport operators, port operators, port and shipping management departments and marine management departments to step up safety checks and improve work safety.

Port management units should control safety risks and follow higher standards in work related to dangerous cargo. The management of loading and unloading work should be reinforced, the authority said.

Port and shipping departments should enhance supervision of the sector and intensify oversight and safety checks at ports.

Ship survey departments are also urged to intensify ship management and conduct detailed surveys for the safety index of ships.

The ministry also urged marine management departments to conduct more on-the-spot safety oversight and prioritize safety management of small and medium-sized vessels.

Rivers, lakes to be better protected

China will launch a targeted campaign to address the damaging or polluting of its rivers and lakes in the second half of this year, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

The campaign will consist of four operations, with two concerning illegal shorefront occupation and solid waste disposal along the Yangtze River, according to an online statement from the ministry.

A thorough inspection and rectification program will be completed before the end of this year to tackle solid waste along China’s longest river, according to the ministry.

Waste dumping in reservoirs and illegal sand mining are also targeted by the action plan which will see river and lake chiefs strengthening law enforcement and resource management.

River and lake chiefs are responsible for the management and protection of water resources. There are now around 320,000 river chiefs at various levels nationwide.

Registration for medical group

China will complete the digital registration of all its medical institutions, doctors and nurses by the end of this month, the National Health Commission said on June 24.

The registration and record management of all medical institutions, doctors and nurses nationwide will go digital before the end of June, the commission said.

Medical institutions, doctors and nurses can conduct registration through an online platform, and will have their special information stored on files after registration. The public can also learn basic information about medical institutions and practitioners through the platform, the commission said.

There were about 3.4 million doctors, 3.8 million nurses and 987,000 medical and health institutions in China at the end of last year, the health authority said.

The country started to digitalize the registration and record of medical institutions and workers in April last year.