Reuters
Damir Sagolj, Natalie Thomas, and James Pomfret, Reuters: Unpaid and angry
This year, 20 or so construction workers in the northern province of Hebei decided not to join China's legion of migrant workers heading home to celebrate new year with their families.
Too angry and proud to arrive home empty-handed, they have stayed put, demanding nearly a year's unpaid wages.
This protest banner, which workers claim authorities told them to stop using, reads: "Pay back the money that you owe".
"The developer has kept using the fact that they have no money as an excuse,” said Fan Fu, who brought others from his hometown in the western province of Sichuan to work on the Zixia Garden apartment complex in Qianan, Tangshan City. “As of now they haven't paid us a single penny."
"We really don't have any other options," he said in the offices of a subcontractor, crowded with bedding and personal possessions.
With China's economy growing at its slowest in 25 years, more workers face a similar predicament and labour unrest is on the rise, a concern for Beijing as it seeks to avoid social unrest even as financial pressures build.
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WNU Editor: This is the Chinese government's #1 worry .... labour unrest, strikes, and demands for reform. Being one who has travelled, worked, and lived in China .... I have seen more than my share of unrest and protest. But this is different .... these are not students, politicians, disgruntled Party members, etc., who are unhappy .... this is the backbone of China ... a lot of middle aged men who now find themselves unemployed, broke, and desperate. And the scary part is that the Chinese central government does not know what to do about it .... .... As China’s economy unravels, Beijing’s attempts at damage control are growing increasingly desperate (Quartz).
2 comments:
Twenty or so disgruntled workers in a population of 1.3 billion? Would that western countries could be so fortunate. In the US the labor force participation rate has dropped from 66% to 62% in ten years, which translates to a decrease of employment of abut nine million people.
I saw a dozen or so desperate men in a shell of a 2 story bodega in 1997 in Beijing.
Things were bad back then.
The NW corner of the 2nd ring road looked like a tough neighborhood, a very large one.
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