Commentary: Society must ensure migrants get rightful wages and respect

A migrant worker, at his wits end and seemingly out of alternatives, set off homemade explosives at the offices of a construction company on Wednesday after its management refused to pay the 160,000 yuan (20,500 U.S. dollars) it owed his team of construction workers.

Fifty-nine-year-old Xing Guodong is now likely to spend the Chinese Lunar New Year in jail instead of the rural hometown he yearns to return to.

Xing is just one of many migrants who have taken radical and often illegal action to force their employers to cough up their rightfully earned wages.

Last Saturday at least five migrants were injured when a gang of club-wielding thugs descended on a group of 20 wage-claiming workers. The gang was led by the project manager of the Xi'an-based construction company which owed the workers at least 150,000 yuan (19,200 U.S. dollars).

Having to spill blood to obtain what has been rightfully earned is a stinging reminder that problems still exist not only in our labor and social security systems, but also in how we deal with each other. Should anyone in our gleaming, new cities feel good knowing they have been built on the backs of low-paid migrants who do the hardest, dirtiest, most dangerous jobs that urbanites consider beneath them?

The issues arising from these incidents are not only a matter of law - they're about respect and equality. Imagine a group of white-collar workers in Beijing not getting paid for a year. The employer would be bombarded by crowds of journalists, authorities would quickly intervene, and the courts would send the bosses to jail.

But factories and construction companies customarily withhold the pay of migrants up to a year, leaving many with little bargaining power.

The situation has improved for many since Premier Wen Jiabao backed the migrant millions in their plea for payment of their back wages three years ago.

The central government has ordered local officials to make sure workers be paid on time and in full, the construction sector, which employs the largest number of migrants, has been told to pay wages on a monthly basis and trade unions have been doing their best to help migrants claim overdue pay.

The Ministry of Agriculture says China has 114.9 million migrant workers and their number is growing by almost 7 million a year.

While the vast majority of migrant workers do receive their fair pay, all of us should feel the discomfort of those who are cheated out of their salaries. It is in antithesis of a socialist economy.

A recent investigation found 980 employers in northwestern Gansu Province owed 130 million yuan (16.6 million U.S. dollars) in back wages to some 130,000 migrant workers last year.

When enforcement is lax, the promises of policy makers are little comfort to migrants workers who toil for a year and suffer deep homesickness while living with few of the creature comforts many urbanites take for granted.

At the end of the year the migrants simply want the cash they earned, a ticket home and to see their families again. On this count we are all the same; earning a livelihood for the sake of our families is exactly why we cherish and celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Many migrants make about 12,000 yuan (1,540 U.S. dollars) a year and those who don't have skills or experience earn half that much.

The cash they take back home means a lot to their families and their rural hometowns: years of labour and years of saving can mean a new home, a small chicken coop, a small retirement fund for their parents and enough money to pay for their children's education.

The migrant worker's annual pay is often a rural family's only source of income. Imagine, one year, through no fault of your own, you come home empty-handed.

To vent their anger, stressed-out migrants have threatened to throw themselves off high rises, abducted their debtors and taken their bedrolls and camped out in the open air.

Even policemen say they fear the pre-holiday wage claiming protests, which often turn confrontational. A police station in downtown Xi'an assigns a third of its officers to labor disputes each December and January.

Trying to legally collect back wages often means the migrant workers have to put their self-esteem on the line.

Seeking redress in courts is often a bewildering and expensive experience for migrant workers. It can take weeks for courts to make a decision and by the time they add up all the legal fees and other expenses, the costs are often more than the amount they are claiming.

They have little choice but to turn the other cheek and move on to the next job.

It's high time for cities to treat migrants better if we are to come even remotely close to building a "harmonious society".

Officials, particularly those in charge of labor and social security affairs, have a larger role to play. Instead of turning a deaf ear to the plight of migrant workers with a wink, a nod and "we'll look into it", the migrants need to be taken more seriously. Regulations governing their employment simply must be followed. Employers who break the law and stiff any worker should be blacklisted and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Judicial departments should simplify procedures, cut litigation costs and see that justice is done.

The harmony of society is at stake; there can no longer be us and them, arrogant urbanites versus the country bumpkins. When migrant workers don't get paid we should all feel the loss.

Source: Xinhua