Due to the fact that they are often owed wages and it is difficult to collect wages, many migrant workers in China have recently demanded daily wages. The picture shows workers resting at a construction site in Beijing. (Wang Zhao/AFP)
[The Epoch Times, February 24, 2023](Reported by Epoch Times special feature reporter Zhang Zhongyuan) Recently, some construction companies in China have encountered a big problem, that is, it is difficult to recruit workers. Many migrant workers require daily wages. A manager of an engineering construction company said, “In this way, the engineering project cannot be carried out. The government delays in paying the money, the engineering team has no money to pay the workers, and the boss is also suffering.”
According to a report from Sohu, a portal website in mainland China, many factories and construction sites are now recruiting workers. After asking about the basic content of the job, migrant workers will ask for daily wages. The workers just turned around and left, even if the monthly salary was higher, they did not agree. If you don’t pay wages for one day, you will leave immediately. Even if you are cheated, it will only be one day.
Wu Siyu (pseudonym), a manager of an engineering construction company in Zhengzhou, Henan, told The Epoch Times on February 23, “The daily settlement can only be small projects undertaken by small companies, such as paving the ground, repairing water pipes, building walls, etc. , I can’t earn much money myself, so the daily settlement is also normal.”
The Supreme Court of the Communist Party of China once claimed in its ruling on the case of migrant workers asking for wages that the construction site team does not belong to the actual construction workers in the legal sense, and has no right to directly require the contractor to pay for labor services. Since then, more and more migrant workers have asked the contracting party to settle their wages on a daily basis.
In mainland China, project payments are generally paid according to the progress of the project. Wu Siyu said that after receiving the project, Party A usually pays 50% of the project payment first, and then pays 20% of the project payment when the project is 70% complete, and the remaining payment will not be settled until the project is accepted.
“If the settlement is made on a daily basis, large projects cannot be accepted at all. If the projects of millions or tens of millions want to be settled daily, the company has no money to pay at all, and the contractor has no money to pay migrant workers, and they default on each other. Engineering projects cannot be accepted. The consequences for society are disastrous.”
Workers demand daily wages, which is related to the fact that migrant workers have often been in arrears of wages in recent years and have difficulty in asking for wages. Cases of migrant workers being detained for asking for wages have also been reported by the media from time to time. For example, on February 5, a contractor in Hezuo City, Gannan Prefecture, Gansu Province climbed onto the boom of a 50-meter-high tower at a construction site to demand construction money, otherwise he jumped off to commit suicide.
In the end, although the man successfully asked for his salary, he was punished by the CCP authorities for 10 days of administrative detention on the charge of “maliciously asking for salary”. The official report stated that there is zero tolerance for this “malicious salary asking” method.
The term “maliciously asking for salary” has been widely used by the CCP’s official media in recent years. It is a qualitative term for those who have nowhere to ask for salary and are forced to take more extreme methods to ask for salary.
Wu Siyu believes, “It’s not the boss’s original intention to cause wage arrears, it’s caused by the CCP’s corrupt system from top to bottom.” For example, for a project worth 1 million yuan, the central government allocates 300,000 yuan, and the local government allocates 300,000 yuan. It is not certain when it will be credited, and the remaining 400,000 yuan must be raised by the street itself.
“The higher-ups still need political achievements, and the project has to be completed, so they can only owe money to the engineering team. The engineering team dare not say anything. Migrant workers ask the boss of the engineering team for money, and the boss can’t say anything, and no one sympathizes.” Wu Siyu said helplessly.
“Migrant workers make money with their labor. After working for a year, they lost all their money in the end. They were beaten and arrested even if they asked for wages.” ; The government did not pay the engineering team, and the engineering team was also pursued by the contractor; the engineering team owed the bank loan, and also owed the cost of machinery and materials (rebar, cement, sand, etc.).”
“Because the CCP does not have the spirit of a contract, and integrity is lost in the face of interests, more than 80% of the people in China do not believe in the evil CCP.” Wu Siyu said.
Responsible editor: Lian Shuhua#