Sound legislation can indeed bring guilty employers to book, but migrant workers also have to pay a price to safeguard their rights. In 2007, an NGO providing legal aid to migrant workers issued a report, which said migrants might end up spending 920 yuan ($148) directly or indirectly and 11 to 21 days to get 1,000 yuan in arrears through legal means. That by any yardstick is a high cost to pay for a migrant worker.
Besides, many migrant workers lack the necessary education, legal knowledge and awareness to safeguard their rights and get their arrears through legal methods. And although migrant workers can be taught to sign labor contracts and preserve evidence of labor relations, in reality they can hardly ask their employers to fulfill those requirements.
Therefore, appealing to the law may be the last resort for them. It is more important that the authorities take stricter measures to prevent employers from defaulting on wages than to punish them after a case is highlighted.
Most of the wage default cases take place in the construction industry. Different from other industries that pay employees every month, employers in the construction industry more often than not pay their employees after a project is completed (or after one full year).
Sub-contracting is another reason why employers default on wages in the construction industry. One of the main problems in the construction industry is that one contractor sub-contracts a project to a sub-contractor, who then sub-contracts it to another to make quick money. It's not uncommon to see half a dozen sub-contractors in one project, which creates shortage of finance. And being at the bottom of the finance chain, migrant workers are the last to get paid.
Worse, if one of the sub-contractors runs away or defaults on wages, migrant workers don't know who they should turn to get their wages. This makes migrant workers in the construction industry the most vulnerable section of the country's workforce.
The authorities, therefore, should establish a new salary system and supervise employers to ensure they pay migrant workers every month instead of once a year or after a project is completed. They should also restrict the number of sub-contracts in a project.
More importantly, they should introduce a nationwide security deposit system in the construction industry. Under the system, before starting a project an employer should be made to deposit a certain amount in a bank, which can be used to pay workers in case he defaults on wages or goes into hiding to avoid trouble.
The authorities should also set up a credit system in the construction industry, under which the credibility and goodwill of an employer will depend on his performance in terms of paying wages to workers on time. Apart from penalizing employers who lose their credit points by defaulting on wages, the authorities should also make their names public so that they make amends before starting their next venture or lose out to the better-performing and more socially committed employers.
Only by taking strict measures to punish employers defaulting on wages and setting up a safety net for migrant workers can the authorities fulfill the goal of eradicating the menace of wage defaults by the end of 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15).
A Taiwan student's adventure in Beijing
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