Reporter's Diary: Crusade for justice

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04:28

China's reform and opening up has boosted the development of the rule of law and its legal system within the country.

Despite China's rapidly expanding legal system, migrant workers still find it difficult to gain access to the judiciary, and it's even harder for them to win their cases.

This is not the first time we've visited Zhou Litai's firm to see the situation of migrant workers. The purpose of each return visit is to find out what's changed and what needs to be done to help this vast, vulnerable group.

China's growth is built on the labor of migrant workers and to make China's future better, we need to improve the conditions for migrant workers.

10,000 cases in 20 years

"Justice in many cases is merely written on paper, despite the fact that the system has been fundamentally improving over the years," says lawyer Zhou Litai.

Zhou's files cover over 10,000 cases he has handled in the past 20 years. He says awareness of migrant workers' legal cases has improved.

Cases involving physical injuries have fallen, but pay defaults are getting worse.

He says migrant workers are easily exploited because they have little to no knowledge of the law. Most of them come from poor rural areas with low levels of education, and because of the economic downturn, some local governments have interfered with the judicial process. This has raised the bar for helping workers win their cases and attain justice.

Migrant worker Wang Guangcheng, comes to Zhou Litai Law Firm with the help of others, for legal aid for compensation. A work accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. /CGTN Photo

And the crusade goes on

"To fundamentally change the situation of protecting the rights of migrant workers, the government needs to change the concept of management with much more emphasis on supervision. And the Workers Unions should play their due role," says lawyer Zhou Litai.

In China, lawyers like Zhou, who focuses on defending migrant workers' rights, are a rarity because it's not a lucrative profession. He earns a living from a portion of the compensation that workers get after winning their cases.

Zhou was a migrant worker himself in his youth before he studied law.

CGTN correspondent Han Bin follows Zhou Litai in a re-visit to Duan Qinghan, who was diagnosed with lung disease in 2004 after some 20 years working at a local mine. The District Court rejected the claim, but Zhou wants him to appeal. /CGTN Photo‍

The cases that Zhou handled have not always been successful. He says labor cases require a lengthy process that often takes its toll on complainants.

Despite some failures, Zhou Litai vows to continue his legal fight for workers' rights until getting justice is no longer a struggle for them.