2023.01.05 16:02 ET
Salary slogans displayed in Puyang, Henan Province on January 5, 2023
At the end of the year and the end of the year, many places
in China continue to stage a wave of "salary demands". Premier
Li Keqiang said last week that the wages of migrant workers must be guaranteed,
but the situation of "wage demands" seems to be getting worse. On
the office building of a company in Henan, the salary collectors also put up a
strange banner saying "Maintain the company's illegal wage arrears",
attracting attention. In 2023, will the tide of "salary demands"
trigger new social turmoil?
"The rogue gathers wisdom, maliciously defaults,
and repays the debt, it is only right and proper . " This
is a video circulating on the Internet. Workers hang up banners asking for
wages in the office building of Huizhi Real Estate in Shenyang, Liaoning, and
use loudspeakers to read out the slogans.
In the past two months, a large number of videos related to
the issue of "salary asking" have appeared on Chinese online
platforms. A netizen named "Anthony" collected and reposted
about 40 "salary asking" videos from various places across
the country on Twitter ,
all from January 4th to 5th . This station
cannot independently verify the relevant videos, but judging from the title,
the times and places where the wave of salary demands occurred include:
--January 4 , a worker in a garment factory in
Zhongshan, Guangdong
--January 5 , Beijing Construction
Engineering Group
--January 5 , Shandong Yinguang Yuyuan
--January 5 , Zhuozhou , Hebei
--January 5th , Shandong China Construction
Fifth Bureau
--January 5 , Henan Mengzhou Guangji
Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
--January 5 , Jilin Changchun Jingyue
Labor Bureau
--January 5 , Songshan District, Chifeng
City, Inner Mongolia
On January 4, 2023, workers in a garment factory in Zhongshan, Guangdong demanded their wages. (Screenshot of Douyin video)
There are a lot of " salary
demands " this year? China Labor Watch: Because of the
epidemic
According to the Chinese official media Xinhua News Agency,
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made an instruction at the plenary meeting of the
State Council’s Leading Group for Radically Cracking Wage Arrears
of Migrant Workers on December 29 last year , demanding that the
wages of migrant workers be paid. Spring Festival) is approaching,
"migrant workers have an urgent desire to get their hard-earned money for
the New Year", so it is necessary to "ensure that migrant workers get
their wages in full and in a timely manner".
At the meeting, Hu Chunhua, Vice Premier of China and head
of the leading group of the State Council’s work on eradicating wage
arrears of migrant workers, also said, “Affected by various factors
this year, the problem of wage arrears has rebounded greatly, and the work of
radically eradicating wage arrears to migrant workers is facing a more
complicated situation.” .
Li Qiang, head of the U.S.-based non-governmental
organization "China Labor Watch," told this station that wage arrears
to migrant workers has always existed in China. According to their statistics,
due to the epidemic, this year's " salary
asking " incidents are obviously more frequent than
others. More often than ever. Take the past 5 days as an
example, " We have an internal search platform. From
( January ) 1st , I see that there have
been 25 salary-seeking incidents. This situation is generally more
than before. The most important One reason is the epidemic. ”
A lawyer in Guangzhou, Ge, said in an interview with this
station that he has also dealt with some salary-seeking cases recently, and the
court's handling is still acceptable, but whether the money can be recovered
during execution is another issue. " The person who owes wages
is basically bankrupt, and he has to work on his own. (The fact of wage
arrears) He admits, but he has to pay him back for a few years. Last year, he
gave it for a year, but in the second half of the year There were some problems
with the implementation, and it stopped again. The result of the communication
now is that he should continue to pay after the Spring Festival. ”
"Severely Crack Down on Malicious Salary Claims and Maintenance Companies' Illegal Wage Arrears" Banner (Jimu News Screenshot)
Crack down on "maliciously asking for wages"
migrant workers' ironic banners to complain
The Chinese media "Jimu News" published a
commentary on January 5 , which mentioned that on the
office building of a labor service company in Ruyang County, Luoyang, Henan
Province, there was a strange banner "Severely Crack Down on Malicious
Salary Claims and Maintenance Companies' Illegal Wage Arrears". focus on.
The person in charge of the company responded on
the 5th that the banner was hung by migrant workers who came to ask
for wages the day before, and that the issue of wage arrears was being dealt
with. The article said that the banners and slogans are "speaking
irony" for wage earners, but for those who owe wages, it may not be
"just in the middle of their arms", perhaps it is their thoughts from
the bottom of their hearts. This is not black humor. In reality, there are
wage seekers who are labeled as "malicious wage earners".
According to a report from Hebei Network Radio and
Television Station, Li Baozhong, a deputy to the National People's Congress,
suggested in 2020 that "malicious salary seekers" be
included in the blacklist of the social integrity system.
In this regard, Li Qiang, head of China Labor Watch, said
that before the epidemic, the government emphasized that those who owe wages
should be held accountable, but now the situation has changed again. " Nowadays
Chinese companies are generally in arrears of wages. Under such circumstances,
they attack workers who collectively defend their rights to ask for wages.
Another core problem is that these companies have no money, and workers can't
get their wages back. "
China's economic situation is bad and there is no way out
for wages
In the past three years, China's economy has declined
sharply due to the lockdown caused by the epidemic. The fiscal deficit and
local debt have been on the verge of bursting. According to an analysis by
Bloomberg, in the first 11 months of last year, the fiscal deficit of
the central and local governments in China reached nearly 7 trillion
yuan. Zhao Wei, chief economist of Shanghai-based Best Securities,
estimated two months ago that the Chinese government's fiscal deficit may
exceed 10 trillion yuan in 2022 , the highest in history, and
has already exceeded the warning line.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also stated a few days
ago that China's economic growth in 2022 may be equal to or lower than the
global growth rate for the first time in 40 years.
Li Qiang believes, "There is no way out for asking for
salary now, especially this year, due to the mistakes of the entire country's
epidemic prevention policy, the economic downturn has been passed on to these
ordinary people in the end."
At the beginning of December last year , Chinese
officials gave up " dynamic clearing " due to
financial pressure and the white paper movement . After that, a large number of
videos of " Dabai " (epidemic prevention personnel)
who were fired from various places collectively asked for salary
appeared on the Internet. On December 14 , a man in
Zhengzhou drove an excavator into the street to destroy vehicles, and was shot
dead by the police several times. Rumors circulated on the Internet that
the perpetrators were migrant workers, who were driven to a dead end because
they failed to recover their arrears of wages and the end of the year was
imminent. The station could not independently verify the above
information.
On December 14, 2022, a man in Zhengzhou was shot dead by the police several times because he failed to recover his arrears of wages and drove an excavator into the street to destroy vehicles at the end of the year. (Video screenshot)
"Salary asking" is also a Chinese
characteristic? Expert: The evil of the system
Zhao Lanjian, a former Chinese media person, believes that
behind the phenomenon of asking for salary, it is still a reflection of whether
a society is legalized. Zhao Lanjian mentioned that Chile has a stricter
legal system and is more inclined to protect labor rights and interests. He
said that compared with Chinese workers, they have to face both the enterprise
and the government, and the lack of the entire judicial process makes it
impossible to implement these salary claims. "There are so many
people asking for wages in China, and even the local government treats asking
for wages as an illegal and discipline-breaking behavior. In my opinion, this
is very cruel."
Li Qiang said, "The root of all evil should be the evil
of China's system. If the whole system goes wrong, you (the people) can't do
anything."
Reporter: Kaidi Editor in charge: Zheng Chongsheng Web
editor: Hong Wei
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/kw-01052023132119.html#.Y7dM_qBCAPs.twitter
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