New Year migration: China’s rulers sound alarm over wage arrears

Tens of millions of migrant workers are beginning their exodus for the Chinese New Year Holiday which starts on 14 February. The next few weeks will see the world’s biggest annual human migration. Up to 240 million people are expected to travel by bus and train over the 40-day holiday period.

On Friday 5 February, the central government issued a rare and urgent warning to local governments to settle pay disputes involving migrant workers before the holiday season gets underway. The warning posted on the State Council’s website said “Recently in a few places there have been mass incidents over migrant worker pay, especially in the area of construction.” It said officials found responsible for mass protests would be punished.

The State Council even urged local governments to intervene to pay workers on private construction projects if necessary to avoid conflicts developing that could undermine social stability. Many migrant workers expect to collect back pay, often stretching over several months or even the past year, before returning to their rural homes and families.

The income of China’s roughly 200m migrants working in factories, construction sites, restaurant and hotel work, and domestic service, is the biggest source of funding to most poor rural regions, exceeding investments by government. But the problem of unscrupulous bosses welching on their commitments or even absconding without paying their workforce is common. The construction industry, booming on the back of government stimulus policies, has the worst record for wage arrears, given its many layers of private sub-contractors even on big government projects, which often leaves workers unsure over who actually owes them their wages. As the state-run news outlet Xinhua commented, “Back pay to migrant workers has affected the income of the rural population for a long time and is considered a ‘chronic illness’ undermining social stability.”

The leaders of China’s one-party state fear mass protests as a major source of social instability, and government stepping in to pay workers minimal compensation to prevent unrest is not uncommon. The latest government warning comes after two migrant workers were stabbed to death by their employer on 3 February in Henan province in a dispute over wage arrears. News reports say the two men, Yang Qinzhong and Zhu Yongxiang, were protesting on behalf of 17 fellow workers who had been employed to repair a government building in the provincial capital, Zhengzhou.

As workers collected their pay before making the trek home for the New Year, they discovered the company had lowered wages, docking over 100 yuan (about US$14.60). The two workers were stabbed in the neck with a fruit knife by Wu Xianmin, a contractor, according to Xinhua. Such violent disputes are common. Last month, state media said a migrant worker from Hebei had to have his kidney removed after he was stabbed while trying to get 70 yuan ($10) in pay.

Chinese workers, especially migrants who are the most vulnerable to exploitation by money-grabbing capitalists, cannot rely on the government to regulate such problems or stamp out abuses. The Chinese state’s main concern is stability and to prevent the masses taking to the streets, and last week’s statement on wage arrears is framed with this in mind. The government wants to deflect public criticism by showing its concern, but it is not offering a solution, and neither can local government enforce wage payments in industries that are outside its control, or riddled with corruption, or both.

Workers need their own organisations to fight these brutal practises. Independent trade unions that are run democratically, with elected spokespeople living on an ordinary workers’ wage, can set about organising factories and construction sites and combatting abuses. Workers’ organisation would insure written contracts and regular payment of wages, it would block excessive overtime and other legal violations.

Real trade unions would drive unscrupulous private contractors and cheats out of these industries. Furthermore, such organisations could lay the basis for transferring the major companies to genuine public ownership, under workers’ democratic control and management. This would allow industry to be planned and developed in accordance with people’s needs, guaranteeing humane wages and conditions and putting an end to the waste and corruption that is rife today.