This is the story of Peng Hongping, a 26 year-old migrant worker
from a countryside background. He was interviewed by two
correspondents from the China Youth Daily. He was able to
find work for only 45 of the 115 days from July 3 to October 24
this year. His income for the period amounted to just 415 yuan
(US$50). He had worked for 11 different employers. Not one paid him
what had been promised in full.
The correspondents first met Peng on July 3 in a job market in
Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei
Province. He had nothing but a little loose change in his
pocket and was set to run out of food in less than two days. Prior
to this he had worked on a construction site for an employer named
Zhang. He got just 200 yuan (US$24) for working 37 days. This was
much less than the 925 yuan (US$112) that he should have been paid.
On June 20 he injured his hand in an industrial accident. His
employer gave him 5 yuan (US$0.6) and let him go.
Peng started life in a rural community in Xiantao City in Hubei
Province. In 1992 when he was still less than 18 years old he left
home to go and work in Wuhan.
According to Peng, his mother, now in her 60s, is almost blind
with cataract and makes a living by sifting through garbage. He got
married last year but poverty has already caused his wife to leave
him.
The correspondents met up with Peng again at 1 o'clock on July
7. They found he had been sleeping rough in the street and had a
heavy cold with a high fever. They gave him 20 yuan (US$2.4) and
urged him to see a doctor quickly. Reluctant to spend the money he
did not go for treatment until late that night. He got an injection
in a small clinic for 18 yuan (US$2.2). He used the remaining 2
yuan (US$0.24) for a night's sleep in a hostel.
On July 8, Peng found work mixing cement mortar on a
construction site. For this he was promised 20 yuan a day. It was
heavy work as he screened the sand and got on with the mixing. At
the end of a full day's work his boss said he was too slow and
fired him without pay.
Through the heat of July and August, Peng worked on five
different construction sites in Wuhan. He made a total of 30 yuan
(US$3.6).
On August 30, the promise of a salary of 1,000 yuan (US$120) per
month drew Peng to a job working 12 hours a day in a marble plant
in the Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region.
Here by contrast the weather was cold and he did not have
suitable warm clothing. Peng managed to stick it for one month but
he didn't get the 1,000 yuan he had been promised. His employer now
said the salary was just 500 yuan (US$60) a month. He then reduced
this by a further 200 yuan (US$24) on account of the cigarettes
Peng had smoked.
Peng now had 300 yuan (US$36) but a rail ticket back to Wuhan
was 370 yuan (US$44.7). He hitched a ride arriving back with 227
yuan (US$27.4) all of which was subsequently stolen in a job
market.
On October 17, Peng found a job washing woven plastic bags. This
involved working five to six hours during the day and a further
eight to nine hours at night. He gave up after three days. He had
washed four tons of plastic bags and got just 30 yuan (US$3.6).
Peng is now working as a porter, carrying goods with a shoulder
pole borrowed from his brother. This is not an easy way to eke out
a living for there are just too many people competing for the
available work.
In 115 days Peng had worked for 11 different employers. Not one
had given him a written contract and not one had paid him what had
been promised.
Peng Hongping said, "If only the right conditions for hiring
labor could be created with employers actually complying with the
relevant laws and regulations and laborers doing a fair day's work
for a fair day's pay, then our lives would be so much better." In
particular he hopes earnestly for an early resolution to the
problem of employers defaulting on salary payments.
Today there are fewer fields under cultivation in Peng's home
village. He would go back to farming if the land could be made
available. As he says, "Working on the land may be a hard life but
it is better than starving in the city."
Lou Wei is a doctor studying rural labor migration with the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He said that Peng's experiences
are representative of the lives of those who are coming off the
land. China has 94 million rural laborers and many have had similar
experiences to Peng.
Lou said that the relevant policies should be implemented in
earnest. Employers must enter into written contracts with migrant
laborers. Salaries must be paid in full and on time. There is also
a need to expedite the development of social security measures and
organizations aimed at providing support to migrant rural
laborers.
At the same time training opportunities should be provided to
help migrant laborers raise their skill-levels and so become more
employable.
(China.org.cn translated by Feng Yikun, November 25, 2003)