China: the impossible revolt of the Chinese couriers
Audio 19:30
Couriers, in Shanghai (China).
© Barcroft Media via Getty Images - Barcroft Media
By: Stéphane Lagarde Follow
23 mins
For them, there is no next world.
Qualified as heroes during the Covid epidemic for having contributed to the supply of confined Chinese megalopolises, delivery people are still faced with the inflexibility of algorithms and degraded working conditions in China.
Chen Guojiang's disappearance in February 2021 revealed the anger and helplessness of a profession.
After trying to unite the army of the invisible on a scooter, this Beijing courier was arrested.
Publicity
The Chinese authorities have since taken up part of his demands, but there is no question of letting the new convicts on the road come together to defend their rights.
"China: the impossible revolt of the Chinese couriers", a Grand report by Stéphane Lagarde and Huang Chenkuang.
(Replay of May 27, 2021)
CONNECTIONS :
For further…
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Renwu 2020
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Labor note 2021
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China Labor Bulletin 2021
.
China has more than 7 million “waimai” (takeaway) delivery people according to figures from two major Chinese delivery platforms, Meituan and Ele.me which employed Chen Guojian (
@FGuojiang
), the delivery man arrested on February 25, 2021 in Beijing. To these two companies, we must add all the delivery services organized in particular by certain restaurant chains. According to the Zhihu newspaper, 446,000 ready-meal delivery companies generated 650 billion yuan (over 80 billion euros) in profits in 2020. A delivery industry that is taking over factories. Despite the dangers of a profession punctuated by the orders of algorithms, the flexible working hours of scooter delivery people continue to attract hundreds of thousands of young migrant workers every year. A profession watched like milk on fire by the authorities. The claims of delivery people are regularly highlighted by the state press. In 2018, sociologist Chen Long spent 5 months in a delivery station.His report was published by Peking University (
link here
).
More recently, an official also put himself in the shoes of a courier.
For 12 hours only, but his
video
showing the difficulty of the job has not been censored
(to read on the SCMP).
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