BEIJING - A SHOCKING slavery scandal has prompted Chinese legislators to toughen a new law aimed at protecting workers' rights, arming it with provisions to punish officials who turn a blind eye to such abuses.

The last-minute amendments to the Labour Contract Law, which was passed yesterday after 18 months of deliberation, was prompted in part by growing public anger over the scandal, which saw local officials in northern Shanxi province collude with unscrupulous businessmen to exploit hundreds of 'brick slaves'.

The enslaved workers were mostly kidnapped or lured from train stations in neighbouring provinces and forced to work under inhumane conditions at illegal brick kilns in Shanxi.

Nearly 1,000 workers have been freed since the police began raiding the kilns earlier this month. The subsequent media reports and images of the rescued victims, some of them severely beaten and tortured, shocked many ordinary Chinese.

Chinese legislators debating the final draft of the Labour Contract Law this week decided to add several new provisions in response to the shocking labour abuses in Shanxi.

According to the law, which goes into effect in January, officials whose abuse of power or dereliction of duty 'result in serious harm to the interests of workers' would be prosecuted or given administrative penalties.

The officials would also be obliged to pay compensation to the affected workers.

Chinese legislators acknowledged, however, that the country already has many existing laws and regulations to uphold workers' rights and prevent the sort of abuses witnessed in the slavery scandal.

'A major problem is in the implementation (of the laws),' Ms Xin Chunying, a senior Chinese legislator, said at a press conference yesterday.

'When the law comes into effect in January, we will urge the government to carry out its duties according to the law and strengthen their supervision in this area to ensure that the very good laws drafted by us are not neglected.'

The newly passed law is aimed not just at extreme cases like the slavery scandal, but also milder but much more widespread labour problems like unpaid wages and unfair severances. It is also common for migrant workers, millions of whom flock to the cities each year to look for jobs, to toil for months or years on end without even signing a contract with their employer.

The new law declared yesterday that employment contracts were mandatory, and must be signed within a month of commencing work. Workers have also been given the right to break off the contracts if their employer used violent means to force them into risky or hazardous work.

Ms Xin, however, avoided directly answering a reporter's question on whether this meant workers had the right to go on strike against unfair employers.

The Labour Contract Law has drawn heated debate since the first draft was read by legislators in December 2005. Foreign businesses, for instances, have raised the alarm over proposed restrictions on firing workers.

An official statement issued at the Canton Fair press conference yesterday stated that employers who plan to retrench more than 20 workers or a tenth of the workforce at one go must notify and consult the workers and their union 30 days in advance.

Assuring foreign companies that they would not be hurt by the new standards, Ms Xin said: 'If yours is a law-abiding enterprise, this law will not increase your labour costs.

'In comparison, a rogue company that does not respect its workers will not be able to sustain its operations and profits for long.'