The Chinese government has instructed 161 large state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to set up company congresses in which workers will have a major say in company decision-making.

The government document, to be issued early next year, will ensure that workers in large SOEs share in the fruits of company growth, said Wang Ruixiang, vice chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the state assets watchdog.

Chinese experts believe the move will make it harder to lay off employees and strengthen the crackdown on corruption.

Protecting workers' rights has been a hot topic in recent months. A State Council executive meeting last week recommended that workers be more involved in decisions about restructuring state-owned firms.

Company congresses will function like the National People's Congress, the country's tog legislature. Worker deputies will convene from time to time to make important decisions, according to the document.

This will ensure that large SOEs consider the interests of employees as well as shareholders. Another benefit is that the management of state assets will become more transparent.

Chinese state-owned companies have struggled to grow in the past decades. They have had to cope with the challenges of reform and opening up, and have laid off millions of workers, most of whom were forced to leave their jobs with little compensation.

The widening gap between the rich and poor has become the most burning social issue in the country.

After years of restructuring, large SOEs now perform well and have become flagships in their industries. Experts believe they are now capable of looking after their employees better.

According to Wang Ruixiang, worker deputies should take up at least sixty percent of the seats in the congress with seats for company leaders limited to 20 percent.

China issued a regulation encouraging SOEs to establish company congresses in 1986. People aged around 50 are familiar with this system. They remember convening in their youth to vote on issues such as wages, housing and the purchase of expensive equipment.

But the fierce competition of the past two decades meant that many companies stopped using the system, leaving workers largely unprotected.

Experts believe the system will spread to other SOEs later. They point out that a survey of ten thousand SOE employees found that sixty-five percent believe they are not sufficiently involved in company decision-making.

Editor: Donald