Two labor watchdog officials from north China's Shanxi Province have been detained by police
in connection with the recent slave-worker scandal.
Hou Junyuan, head of the labor inspection team of the Yongji
labor and social security bureau, was accused of dereliction of
duty and detained on Thursday afternoon.
Another member of his team, Shang Guangze, was arrested on
charges of abuse of power and fired from his job.
Following an investigation, it was found that Shang had
transferred an underage laborer, who was from central China's Henan Province and was about to be sent home,
to work at another kiln.
Known by his surname Zhu, the 17-year-old had recently been
saved from a brick kiln by the labor inspection team following an
investigation into the use of laborers on May 28. Shang was
assigned to escort him home.
"The incident has highlighted the loopholes in the management of
labor use in rural areas and among the floating population," Shanxi
Governor Yu Youjun said at a press conference on Friday in Taiyuan,
capital of Shanxi Province.
(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency June 23, 2007)