The Beijing News
December 23, 2009

By law, Chinese employers are required to contribute to a state-administered retirement pension plan for their employees, who will be eligible for the benefits after paying a monthly premium for an accumulated 15 years. This arrangement, which appears to offer recipients necessary protection, is not always well-received by both sides of the employment equation.

One reason is that it is difficult for highly mobile workers to get benefits because in most cases their retirement pension accounts are currently not allowed to be transferred from region to region. Many employees withdraw their deposits when they move to a different province, and they would sometimes rather have their employers pay this part of their income up front just to avoid bureaucratic hassles.

Today, The Beijing News reports that the State Council announced at yesterday's session that starting January 1st, 2010, retirement pension recipients will be allowed to transfer their accounts between provinces and prefecture-level cities after they find employment elsewhere. The time during which the employee paid his/her dues in different areas will be accumulated. The new policy makes it clear that the migrant workers from rural areas will also be eligible for the change. In addition, the minimum retirement pension of "enterprise employees" (to be distinguished from government employees) will be raised by approximately 10 percent, which will translate into an average 120 yuan monthly income gain for pensioners.

The big image on the front page shows Lu Daren, a 46-year-old man, holding a protest banner sitting in front of a fish restaurant in Chaoyang district.

Lu was hired by restaurant owner Zhong Boxin to protest against forced eviction and help protect his restaurant from demolition. Yesterday, they clashed briefly with a number of intruders wearing security guard uniforms who forced them out of the building. They were allowed to enter again after the police intervened.

According to Oriental Kasheng, the company who rented the place to Zhong, they have a binding contract with a provision stating that the lease will terminate when the building faces immediate demolition. Tenants must leave unconditionally.