Wages on time, easier trip home — migrants’ wishes for Year of Rat

JINAN—Get home for the Chinese New Year, whether you’ve made money or not. The theme of a comic playlet that has been short listed as one of the highlights in the Lunar New Year evening gala on China Central Television on Wednesday night best describes the burning desire of the country’s migrant millions. Kinship also explains why, in face of the worst China winter storm in five decades, more than one million travelers would rather be stranded in buses, trains or at railway stations for a week than stay where they were during the holiday. For many, even to be stranded is lucky — at least it means you’ve been paid, got a hard-won ticket, and started on the way home.
Xie Jun is likely to see in the Chinese Year of Rat on the train on Thursday, alone. However, the 35-year-old carpenter was relieved his boss finally paid him on Tuesday. “He owed me more than 10,000 yuan (1,390 U.S. dollars),” says Xie. “I know he was having difficulty getting paid by his boss.” Xie, a native of the southwestern Sichuan Province, has been working at construction sites in Jinan, capital of the eastern Shandong Province, for three years. Like most migrant construction workers, he gets paid toward the end of the lunar year, always too late to get home for the event.
He was among more than 170 migrants to stage a sit-in on Jan. 22, in a desperate attempt to get their pay and catch a homebound train in time. The protestors blocked the entrance to the main contractor’s office building, demanding immediate pay. The sit-in ended in a conflict with security guards, and six injured workers. “We don’t know much about laws and rights,” says Xie as he justifies his actions. “One thing is certain: my work has to pay. If only they had paid me on time, I’d have been home.”
The protest worked. Over the past two weeks, overdue bills were paid from top to bottom in the hierarchy of contractors and laborers. Xie and his colleagues were at the bottom. In the New Year, Xie hopes each city will open a hotline to hear migrants’ complaints about unpaid wages. “Rights workers should visit us at construction sites and tell us who to turn to for help.” More importantly, wages should be paid on a monthly basis instead once a year, he says.—Xinhua