A SURVEY on labor relations has contrasted sharply with the country's first-ever index on how different types of enterprises treat workers.
The index - a survey of more than 3,000 city enterprises by the Shanghai Trade Union - found that working environments in joint-venture and state-owned companies were better than in private and collective enterprises.
However, a questionnaire compiled by the union and completed by more than 3,000 employees found that workers in joint-venture and state-owned companies were less satisfied than counterparts in other types of firms.
Organizers said the disparity resulted from the different expectations of employees.
"Employees in state-owned enterprises generally have a strong consciousness of labor relations, so the gap between the reality and their high expectations makes them less satisfied with the enterprises than workers in collective and private enterprises do," said Fu Xiaolong, director of the research center that carried out the index and survey.
The questionnaire asked employees to rate labor relations in their workplace from zero to 10, with 10 being the best.
Joint-ventures scored 7.31 and state-owned enterprises 7.51. Collective enterprises rated 8.53, the highest score. Private enterprises scored 7.76.
The index, which was independently evaluated by the research center, covered wages and insurance, working environment, guarantee of rights and interests, and the opportunity of development.
The questionnaire also found that workers in wholesale, commercial, finance and real-estate industries are more satisfied with their working conditions than those in chemical, electronic, textile and engineering industries.
To improve labor relations , the Shanghai Labor and Social Security Bureau has opened an online labor supervision platform. At present, Shanghai has 4.2 million local workers and other four million migrant workers living in the city.