According to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS),
China is now home to some 99 million migrant workers, virtually all
of whom have moved from rural to urban areas in search of better
jobs.
Once upon a time they came to the cities in droves, many of them
wandering the streets and desperate for work.
But in 2004, migrant workers began to come into their own as a
social force: The labor shortage in the Pearl River and Yangtze
River deltas and a number of random strikes indicate that the
workers have recognized their importance to the economy. Now they
are demanding that their employers recognize it, too.
The stream of farmers pouring into the cities during the past
two decades seemed so inexhaustible that most people didn't even
notice when the first signs that it was drying up apppeared. But by
the latter half of 2004, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security
reported that a significant labor shortage did exist in certain
areas. The dearth of young female workers – the most sought-after
group for manufacturing and processing jobs – was particularly
pronounced.
The Pearl River Delta, southeastern Fujian
Province and southeastern Zhejiang
Province abound with the factories that rely on such women to
fill orders, but now those areas are unable to fill 10 percent of
their positions. The Pearl River Delta region alone lacks 2 million
workers.
It wasn't hard for the labor ministry to figure out why. Wages
hadn't been raised in years, even though the companies were hauling
in virtual buckets of gold and regional costs of living rising
substantially. Meanwhile, hours were growing longer without
compensation, while regulatory limits on work hours or days were
largely ignored. Essentially, employees' rights were trampled.
By mid-2004, the problem had become serious. Without enough
workers, many of the companies found themselves unable to fill
orders. Some made plans to move inland, where recruiting would be
easier. In an effort to keep them where they were, local
governments joined the companies in their recruiting efforts.
In the Pearl River Delta, migrant workers struck for their legal
rights. According to Dr. Liu Kaiming, head of the Shenzhen Modern
Society Observation Institute, at least three strikes involving
2,000 to 3,000 workers each occurred in Shenzhen in the past
year.
Liu says that many of today's migrant workers are better
educated than those of years past, and more than a few are junior
college or technical school graduates.
Unlike their silent, docile predecessors, the current generation
of migrant workers has access to new telecommunication
technologies, such as mobile phone SMS, and they know how to use
it. If they aren't already familiar with safeguards for their
rights and interests, they can find out.
Today's migrant workers are not merely scrounging for a full
rice bowl in the cities. They want their due political, economic
and social rights as well. Researcher Wang Chunguang of CASS said
that they are looking for the same treatment as their urban peers:
higher salary, improved working and living conditions, basic social
security and the right to education for their children.
In the past, their requests for such basic compensation received
not even a modicum of consideration. But since Premier Wen Jiabao
began pressing for timely payment of wages in October 2003, many
workers have received their salaries long held in arrears.
Zhejiang, Shandong
and Guangdong
provinces have raised their minimum wages.
Overall, the structure of employers and migrant workers remain
unchanged: capital strong, labor weak. But the influence of the
migrant workers on the nation should not be underestimated. In the
past 20 years, they have been a silent force pushing forward
China’s economic and social reforms. They have accelerated the
nation's shift from a planned to a market economy, and their
migration to the cities dealt a fatal blow to the old, restrictive
residence registration system.
In 1984, China saw the first migrant workers appear in its
cities. In 2004, the first shortage appeared. These workers have
become a new social stratum, rooted in cities and essential to
urban economic and social development. And they are becoming a
force to be reckoned with.
(China.org.cn by Guo Xiaohong, January 17, 2005)