首页 新闻 体育 娱乐 游戏 邮箱 搜索 短信 聊天 天气 答疑 导航


新浪首页 > 新浪教育 > Earning the pay in the hard way

Earn in the hard way
http://www.sina.com.cn 2004/01/18 10:25  上海英文星报

  SHANGHAI Railway Station is the best place to go to witness the early rush of migrant workers leaving the city as the Spring Festival approaches. Smiles can be seen on the weather-beaten faces of those who have been able to pocket this year's pay.

  Zhang Guangde, a migrant worker from Southwest China's Sichuan Province, appeared very excited in one of the station's waiting halls at the prospect of his reunion with his family.

  "I can get together with my family soon," he said. "I got my pay of around 12,000 yuan (US$1,451) on time this year with the help of the government."

  Zhang has worked in Shanghai for three years as a construction worker. Because the Shanghai government has made a special effort this year to solve the problem of wage defaults affecting migrant workers, Zhang and 30 of his workmates received their wages last weekend.

  Shanghai's Labour and Social Security Bureau has launched an investigation into companies which employ migrant workers, especially those in the fields of construction and manufacturing.

  Efforts pay off

  Since January, the bureau has helped 80,000 migrant workers in Shanghai get the wages owed to them, totalling 50 million yuan (US$6.05 million).

  An official from the bureau said it would take immediate action to force the companies to pay overdue wages as soon as any complaint from migrant workers was lodged.

  According to bureau statistics, the number of migrant workers in Shanghai reached 3 million last year. Most were from relatively under-developed areas in Anhui, Zhejiang and Sichuan provinces.

  Migrant workers often have to suffer being despised and laughed at and they are also associated with shabby clothes, vulgar behaviour and criminal activity.

  The Shanghai Construction Commission revealed that there are more than 1 million workers working in 4,000 construction companies and firms, about 35 per cent of the manual work army in the city.

  In Shanghai, the pay default problem is not as serious as in other places in China because the Municipal Government has taken steps to stamp out the practice.

  One senior municipal official commented that without the migrant workers, Shanghai would collapse.

  More problems

  But problems still remain. There are still workers anxiously awaiting their back-pay.

  Zou Zhongliang and his wife are becoming nervous as they wait for the payment of wages owed for a whole year's work. They worked in a furniture-making company for the year but could not get any pay except for two meals a day.

  The boss promised to give them 1,000 yuan (US$121) a month when they started work but they have not seen a penny.

  "He promised to pay at the end of the year. However, he said he couldn't give us the money until the Spring Festival. I have no idea what to do," said Zou who is now angry as well as disappointed.

  What's worse for them is that they did not draw up a contract with their boss.

  Tang Sujian, director of the Justice Bureau of Zhabei District went to the heart of the problem. "Many employers default on the pay not because they do not have the money but because they do not want to pay the workers," he said.

  Tang said employers were often able to skirt around the law. It depended on how determined they were about when to pay the wages and how much to pay. They did not care about the complaints of migrant workers because they can easily find others to work for them.

  To keep their jobs, migrant workers have to tolerate unfair treatment and having their pay withheld which, in turn, encourages employers to skirt the law.

  And some employers default on wages to prevent the more skilled workers from changing jobs. "If highly skilled workers want to change jobs, they would not get their money back," Tang said.

  "The big sacrifice involved prevents them from changing jobs even when they are being treated badly by an employer."

  With little legal knowledge, migrant workers do not know how to protect their rights. The bureau has conducted classes to educate workers about China's labour laws and also offers legal advice.

  Inspections

  The Shanghai Construction Commission has also strengthened supervision over pay due to workers in the construction industry.

  Each company is required to record all payments of wages which helps the authorities gauge the performance of companies in the industry.

  Liu Yadong, an official with the commission, said companies which deliberately defaulted on paying wages due to migrant workers would be denied access to construction projects in Shanghai.

  But the construction companies also has their own complaints, especially in relation to "bao gong tou".

  Huang Jiakun, a "bao gong tou" (labour contractor), who has been residing in Shanghai for 10 years became agitated when discussing the unpaid wages problem.

  "Spring Festival is a festival for migrant workers but a nightmare for us who employ them," he said. "We try to pay them on time but we are also waiting for others to pay us."

  Huang complained that he has to pay all the fees involved in carrying out a construction project including the cost of construction materials which should be paid by the developer. The money is not repaid until the developers sell the houses to buyers and that could take a long time.

  "So what we can do is hope the houses can be sold as soon as possible," he said. "Otherwise, we cannot pay the workers because we have no money."




英语学习论坛】【评论】【 】【打印】【关闭
Annotation

新闻查询帮助



文化教育意见反馈留言板电话:010-62630930-5178 欢迎批评指正

新浪简介 | About Sina | 广告服务 | 招聘信息 | 网站律师 | SINA English | 会员注册 | 产品答疑

Copyright © 1996 - 2004 SINA Inc. All Rights Reserved

版权所有 新浪网
北京市通信公司提供网络带宽