Feature: Employment still main concern for migrant workers in post-financial crisis era
by Xinhua writer Mou Xu
BEIJING, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- With the Spring Festival approaching, Beijing West Railway Station is crammed with migrant workers eager to get home for their annual family reunion.
In the 10th Waiting Hall, 41-year-old He Benchang, a worker in an insulation cable factory in northeastern China's Yingkou city, in Liaoning Province, sat silently waiting for his train to the far- flung southwestern province of Guizhou.
He did not choose work in the country's economic powerhouse regions, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, but Yingkou city.
rolex fake "It is because the boss is my fellow villager. I trust him and just want to follow him," He said, adding that working for a fellow villager means he does not worry about not getting paid.
There are always some migrant workers who are not paid on time. This month, the State Council issued a notice urging relevant departments and local governments to address migrant workers' back pay problem before the Chinese Lunar New Year.
He reckons he is lucky because he found his job last year during the financial crisis when about 20 million other migrant workers temporarily lost their jobs.
But He still worries about his job security in this post- financial crisis era.
"I have remitted as much as 80,000 yuan home in recent years and have borrowed another 50,000 yuan Lace front wigs from family relatives to build a new house for the whole family," He said, adding it would be unbearable for him to lose his job.
"I desperately need money to pay the debts. I also need to spend a big share of my salary to pay for my two kids' education. Farming pays far less than working in the city," He said.
Without any insurance, not to mention a pension, the middle-aged migrant worker has pinned all his hopes on his current job.
In the waiting hall, most migrant workers did not talk much, with most just sitting quietly or taking a nap before their long journey home.
But in one corner, ponytailed Li Jie, 39, chatted away with several other migrant workers sitting on a pile of luggage.
Li, from southwestern China's Sichuan Province, works as a chef for a construction company that builds high-voltage power transmission towers in Beijing.
Li and He share some similarities: Li's boss is her fellow villager too. Li believes in the bond with a fellow villager more than the written employment contract.
"I believe that he would not withhold my wages and would compensate me for any work injury," she said, adding she has not signed any employment contract.
Working on a construction site everyday is a high-risk job, and when accidents do happen, workers are not always compensated.
Li said her boss once paid 90,000 yuan to a worker who lost his left leg after a fall from a tower, but she knows injured workers from other companies are often not compensated.
Li's hometown is famous for tangerines, and the areas' output has been rising in recent years. But, with tangerine prices low and demand slack, her family's income has dropped.
"I have to work in the
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