At the end of the year, the work of clearing migrant workers' wages has attracted much attention.
More than 200 migrant workers from Henan and Hubei worked at a construction site in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province in 2016, and their wages have not yet been settled.
A few days ago, some migrant workers went to ask for a salary, but they encountered kicking the ball.
The Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter's investigation found that the construction project was constructed without a license for five years. The lack of supervision by the relevant departments has planted the roots of wage arrears. The labor security supervision department has not implemented compulsory measures to eradicate migrant workers’ wages arrears, and guarantee the wages of migrant workers. The "last mile" payment policy still needs to be put in place.
Five years have gone through a long way to seek salary
The site steel pipe is rusty
Zhang Jiabing is a native of Wenchong Village, Yuji Town, Shangcheng County, Xinyang City, Henan Province. He is engaged in construction engineering labor.
At the beginning of 2016, he led migrant workers into the No. 13 building of the first phase of Dawen Qinshui City, Quliang Town, Xinmi City, Zhengzhou, Henan Province for civil construction.
After more than half a year of hard work, the main body of the project was capped.
However, Li Jian, the project leader who contracted the project to Zhang Jiabing, has never paid the migrant workers.
In desperation, Zhang Jiabing had to sell the real estate, pay a small salary to the migrant workers who are in difficulties, and embarked on the road of asking for wages together with the migrant workers.
Before the Spring Festival of 2018, Zhang Jiabing and others, who had not yet received their wages, went to Henan Labor and Social Security Supervision Department to report the situation.
In September 2018, the Xinmi City Labor Security Supervision Brigade filed a case for investigation.
In December 2018, the Xinmi City Labor Security Supervision Brigade formed the "Case Investigation Final Report".
The report shows that: Li Jian paid 605,000 yuan to the workers led by Zhang Jiabing three times, plus the 2.64 million yuan previously paid by Zhang Jiabing, and the wages of 166 migrant workers have been settled.
"At that time, in order to get some of the money, I was forced to admit that I had settled the wages of migrant workers. In fact, the 605,000 promised by Li Jian received 405,000, and the advance I paid was far less than 2.64 million. Many have not settled." When the Spring Festival approached, those "old men" who worked with Zhang Jiabing had to come to the house to ask for accounts. Zhang Jiabing could only explain over and over again, but couldn't get the money.
In 2019, on the advice of relevant departments, Zhang Jiabing sued the project developer Henan Dawen Real Estate Co., Ltd. to the court.
"The staff of the Labor Security Supervision Brigade said that I have completed the procedures and should be resolved soon in the court. I didn't expect this legal procedure to take two years, and there is still no result." Zhang Jiabing said that he has nowhere to go, and I don't know how this year will be. Whether to get past it.
It is understood that in January 2020, the Xinmi City People’s Court issued a judgment of first instance and sentenced the defendant Henan Dawen Real Estate Co., Ltd. to pay the plaintiff Zhangjiabing’s project cost of RMB 54,000.
"At that time, there were still millions of project funds that were not paid to me. The court's first-instance judgment was obviously unrealistic and a bit absurd."
Zhang Jiabing immediately appealed to the Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court.
In May 2020, the Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court made a civil ruling that “the necessary litigation participant Li Jian was omitted in this case, and the facts found in the original trial were unclear and should be sent back for retrial” and sent the case back to Xinmi City People’s Court for retrial.
In October 2020, the Xinmi City People's Court issued a civil judgment and sentenced Li Jian to pay 4.96 million yuan for the Zhangjiabing project, and Henan Dawen Real Estate Co., Ltd. assumed joint and several liability for the settlement.
Henan Dawen Real Estate Co., Ltd. believed that it had settled most of the project funds with Li Jian and immediately appealed to the Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court.
On December 23, 2020, the Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court opened a court session to hear the case, and the case has not yet been sentenced.
On December 24, 2020, Zhang Jiabing and migrant workers came to Xinmi from Xiangyang City, Hubei Province, Nanyang City and Xinyang City, Henan Province and other places to ask for wages again.
At this time, the name of the project has been changed from Dawen Qinshui City to "Eastern Jindian·Qinshui Impression".
A migrant worker looked at the construction site where he was sweating, pointed to the "Regulations on Guaranteeing the Payment of Migrant Workers’ Wages" posted on the wall, and sighed helplessly: "The steel pipes here are all rusty, but the workers’ wages are still unpaid. ."
Reporter's cell phone was robbed
Migrant workers "run for nothing"
The migrant workers came to the office building of the project developer to inquire about the situation. As soon as they walked in, they were blasted out by two staff members.
While the reporter was using his cell phone to record the salary request process, a staff member grabbed the phone and ordered the reporter to delete the video.
Xu Hongwei, manager of Henan Dawen Real Estate Co., Ltd., stated that the developer had paid Li Jian for the construction of Building 13, but Li Jian did not pay the migrant workers. He suggested that Zhang Jiabing and migrant workers go to Li Jian and wait for the court’s decision. .
However, Zhang Jiabing has been unable to contact Li Jian.
The reporter made many phone calls but did not contact Li Jian.
Ma Baolun, director of the Quliang Town Labor and Social Security Office, rushed to hear the news and told Xu Hongwei the provisions of the "Regulations on Guaranteeing the Payment of Migrant Workers’ Wages": "The construction unit shall promptly allocate the project funds in accordance with the contract and pay the labor costs in time and in full. The payment will be allocated to the special account for the wages of migrant workers to strengthen the supervision of the general construction contractors to pay the wages of the migrant workers on time and in full." Xu Hongwei did not accept Ma Baolun's words and waited for the court's judgment.
The reporter and migrant workers came to the Quliang Township Government together. They were told that none of the leaders were present. A deputy mayor said on the phone that the migrant workers should go to the labor security supervision department.
In the Xinmi City Labor and Social Security Supervision Brigade, a staff member on duty said that the leaders had gone down to handle cases of wage arrears.
The reporter saw that several offices of the Labor Security Supervision Brigade were all hung up with the sign "New Michigan Joint Office for Eradication of Wages". In one office, the desk signs of the Bureau of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Bureau of Water Resources, Bureau of Letters and Calls were neatly placed. , But no staff.
The reporter reported to the relevant person in charge of the Xinmi City Government about the situation of salary arrears, but did not receive a reply.
Ma Baolun said that the labor security supervision department is only a coordinating department, responsible for communicating with various bureaus and committees, and lacks coercive means.
However, the Regulations on Ensuring the Payment of Migrant Workers’ Wages, which came into effect on May 1, 2020, clearly stipulates: “When the human resources and social security administrative departments investigate and deal with cases of arrears of migrant workers’ wages, the employer refuses to cooperate with the investigation and pays off the responsible entities and If the relevant parties cannot be contacted, etc., they may request the public security organs and other relevant departments to assist in handling."
Zhang Jiabing believes that the law stipulates that the labor security supervision department can inquire about the financial accounts, real estate, and vehicle conditions of relevant units, but does not use the supervision means, which is shirking responsibility.
As night fell, Zhang Jiabing stood in front of the Xinmi City Government, holding the "Notice on Launching Special Winter Actions for the Elimination of Unpaid Wages" issued by the Office of the Leading Group of the State Council's Leading Group for the Elimination of Unpaid Migrant Workers on November 5, 2020.
"It's been another day in vain. The Spring Festival is getting closer and closer, I don't know if this year will be passed."
Long-term undocumented status of the project
The key to controlling wage arrears lies in implementation
In recent years, reporters have continued to follow-up reports on migrant workers' wages, and found that many outstanding wages are due to incomplete construction project licenses or lack of qualifications for the employer.
If construction units and labor security supervision departments fail to supervise the timely payment of migrant workers’ wages, they will lay the blame for wage arrears.
After investigation, the Dawen Qinshui City project started in September 2015.
When construction started, the project did not obtain relevant certificates.
For 5 years, the project has been in a state of unlicensed construction for a long time.
The reporter went to Xinmi City Natural Resources and Planning Bureau, Xinmi City Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Bureau to verify. The staff said that the project did not obtain the construction project planning permit until July 10, 2020, and October 12, 2020. The real property right certificate will only obtain the construction permit for construction projects on November 6, 2020.
At this time, the main body of the project has already been capped and sold to the outside world.
Hou Quanxing, the person in charge of Henan Dawen Real Estate Co., Ltd., told reporters that the project was a resettlement house when it was started and it has been declared as a shed reform project.
"According to the regulations, this type of project can enjoy the preferential policy of permitting while building."
In addition, according to the investigation, Li Jian did not have the qualifications of a construction engineering enterprise. He borrowed the qualifications of Henan Wannan Construction Co., Ltd., obtained the project from the developer Henan Dawen Real Estate Co., Ltd., and then subcontracted it to Zhang Jiabing. Zhang Jiabing had no construction labor qualifications either.
The "Regulations on the Quality Management of Construction Projects" stipulates that when construction units contract construction projects to units that do not have the corresponding qualification level, the relevant departments can order corrections and impose a fine of 500,000 yuan up to 1 million yuan.
Gong Kuisheng, deputy director of the Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Henan Province, said that the construction market has long been "difficult to investigate and deal with violations of regulations, such as subcontracting, but the punishment is low." Violations of laws and regulations form a deterrent.
According to Li Pengju, the second-level inspector of the Henan Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security, cases of wage arrears of migrant workers are concentrated in the field of construction engineering, and existing regulations and systems should be implemented and prior supervision should be strengthened.
Weng Zeren, professor of journalism and sociology at Guizhou University, also said that there is no lack of systems and documents for the current governance of "difficult pay", and the key is to implement it.
Ma Baolun and other grassroots labor security supervision department staff suggested that the Natural Resources and Planning Bureau, the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau and other departments should strengthen the supervision of construction projects from the source, so as to fundamentally prevent migrant workers from owing wages.
Jing Linbo, president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Evaluation, believes that only by realizing the self-discipline of market entities, the government's legal supervision, social coordinated supervision, and judicial joint punishment, can the rights of migrant workers to obtain labor compensation be effectively guaranteed.
(Reporter Feng Dapeng)