The CCTV news channel aired a report on November 12 about seven migrant workers from the countryside of Shandong and Liaoning provinces who had attempted to commit suicide by consuming large quantities of drugs in their temporary shed in the city of Shenyang in Northeast China's Liaoning Province. Fortunately, a few hours after they took the medicine, they happened to be found lying unconscious by a passerby, and were rushed to a first aid centre for emergency treatment. To our great relief, due to the joint efforts of six doctors who stayed with them in the intensive care unit for a couple of hours, they were ultimately snatched from the jaws of death.

　　They had been working under a labour contractor who was in charge of the construction of a luxury townhouse development project. The job was approaching completion when the subcontractor suddenly fled without paying the workers' wages. They were completely overcome by disappointment when they found there was no way to contact their employer, and neither was there anyone for them to turn to. With their last hope of ever getting back their hard earned money blighted, they abandoned themselves to despair and thoughts of death.

　　The incident has attracted serious attention from the local government, which is currently doing its best to help the labourers track down the subcontractor and recover their earnings. And we wish them good luck in their hunt for the boss and the money he owes them.

　　It has become by no means unusual in recent years to learn of similar stories where disadvantaged people from poor rural areas have toiled for long hours day in and day out on construction sites, only to find the subcontractor disappearing without paying them when the job is completed. Hard as such workers try to find their bosses and demand their salaries, most end in failure. Some have been savagely beaten. The weak-minded turn to suicide as the only way out. So how come such misfortunes have happened over and over again?

　　In general, migrant workers are treated as low-status outsiders who receive little respect. Many, like the seven villagers above, who have only a little schooling, are barely literate. There are millions of these itinerant construction workers all over the country who leave their peasant villages to earn a living in the city. They move from city to city, job to job, deprived of many rights that are granted to city dwellers. They are paid annually, based merely on oral promises by those who hire them, and are at risk of being cheated.

　　Indeed, in a number of cases migrant labourers have been caught in a trap deliberately set by the contractors designed to fleece them of their money. At least some of the employers, if not the majority, willfully took advantage of their ignorance of the law and vulnerability in a city where they were strangers, looking down upon them as second-class individuals of no importance.

　　It is really regrettable to see our rural kinsfolk put their shoulders to the wheel night and day without ever thinking of protecting themselves with legal weapons. Even if they do, they cannot afford the expense. The huge sum of money charged by law firms actually bars them from undertaking lawsuits. The harsh reality is: the peasant labourers have made a mark on the cityscape by their sweat and toil, but there are no designated governmental agencies to offer legal protection to them. They are vulnerable and perpetually live in the shadows. That is why they easily fall prey to neglect and trickery.

　　The good news is that not long ago, the Interim Provisions on Payment and Management of Wages for Peasant Labourers Working in the Field of Construction was jointly issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Ministry of Construction. It stipulates that in future, wages, instead of being paid to the contractors, should go directly to the workers themselves.

　　A regulation, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. So I believe it may be a good idea to set up governmental or non-governmental organizations in the cities for the sole purpose of providing migrant workers with a front-to-end service throughout their job on the site.

　　The programme would begin by requiring the workers to register themselves with such local organizations as soon as they have landed a job in the city. Thereafter, it would follow up closely as they carry on with their work, giving them legal assistance to help them overcome major difficulties, such as concluding contracts, while protecting their legitimate rights and interests when these are at risk of being encroached upon. It could also help file lawsuits on their behalf when necessary. Such a service would not only render substantial assistance to migrant workers but also contribute to ensuring the stability of society. Such organizations should be of a non-profit nature, with charges being kept low, or better still, being free.

　　By Xu Shengsheng