Comments on: A Migrant Worker Strikes Back

By: Old Tales Retold

Old Tales Retold — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:36:13 +0000

There are pushes by the government every year to make employers pay the wages they owe to migrants, especially around Spring Festival, when people from rural areas return home. The Labor Contract Law has added some teeth to these drives by giving more migrants a way to prove their employment… but there are still so many ways that a construction site boss can skip town or intimidate workers with thugs or pull connections.

Workers need their own voice, not just better laws or better enforcement. This is how it has worked in other countries and in China’s own history. Part of the problem as I see it is that the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) has been slow to recognize migrant workers as “workers” and allow itself to be a channel for their grievances.

Ultimately, the most hopeful thing for migrants may be the kind of worker community that Chinalbeit mentions above, with all its mutual aid traditions. The sympathy for workers felt by a lot of middle class folks is also encouraging—-more sympathy than is shown for, say, immigrant workers in the U.S. Still, it’s a pretty bad situation…

By: wooddoo

wooddoo — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:39:57 +0000

Speaking of payments, I have personal experience, well not so much personal as I have a direct relative who’s in charge of such issues in his town. Maybe it’s because we’re in Beijing, a place that absolutely doesn’t allow “disharmony,” but his government agency tries its best to prod businesses to pay the migrant workers just so nobody takes it to the streets. But of course Beijing is special in that the commies want to present the city to the world, which makes it very very safe walking on the streets at midnight in Beijing.

By: Chinalbeit

Chinalbeit — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:15:52 +0000

Interesting post. It is true that you often see groups of migrant workers at the side of the road smoking, drinking, playing cards…and they are almost always laughing and shouting and smiling with each other. That is not to say that their situation is therefore fine and doesn’t need any improvement. Obviously their wages (when they receive them) and their living conditions are pretty dire in many circumstances, especially the ones working in construction. At the same time, I think this story illustrates something very interesting that many Chinese have told me. Rich Chinese (i.e. the class of managers or above)) don’t really have any true friends, except maybe some old schoolmates they were involved with before they became “successful.” Rather, they use everybody around them to constantly try to climb the ladder to the top, often even their own families. I’m willing to bet that the migrant worker in the story, and others like him, have a much more fulfilling social network they can rely upon in hard times than the “white-haired” managers who can’t see anything but their larger future paychecks. Nevertheless, most of the poor workers would still probably give it all up to be in those graying manager’s shoes.

By: Wahaha

Wahaha — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:54:12 +0000

I dont know why the heck Chinese government still hasnt set up certain laws to protect migrant workers, like preventing later payment.

(Note : that is why I am not fans of those so called human right activitists or attention seekers, they always have big mouths on individuals issues, but turn blind eyes to the issues that affect thousands or millions of people.)

By: wooddoo

wooddoo — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:20:09 +0000

Seeing that nobody here had anything to say on this topic, I’ll say something. I have translated academic reports on the schooling of children of migrant workers in big cities such as BJ, SH and whatever, and it made me worried about the future of those kids. Fortunately many colleges and univs in Beijing have volunteer programs designed to help private schools specially for those children and I’ve attended some seminars with the volunteers. I hope these programs could be extended to middle schools and primary schools as well in order to let the middle-class (or as the western media like to say for the past two decades, the “new” middle-class – it’s always “new” as if it’s surprising or something) kids realize that some children their age live a different life.

By: A migrant worker… with a blog | China Hope Live

A migrant worker… with a blog | China Hope Live — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:55:32 +0000

[...] English translation of one of his blog posts: A Migrant Worker Strikes Back [...]