Wang Jiangsong, May 7, 2018 On April 25, an open letter from a WeChat group named “Changsha tower crane operator federation” (长沙塔吊联盟) was circulated. It said: To all hardworking front-line tower crane operators, conductors, and elevator operators, greetings! As construction, crane, and mechanical equipment operators and engineers, in the most dangerous line of work on the construction site, our salary and compensation is severely out of step with the risks we take and the utter indispensability of our work. In the construction industry, the hours we work far exceed those stipulated in the Labor Law, and we have no social security. Yet despite being in the most unsafe work and working the longest hours, our pay is miniscule. In order to trigger a […]
May 1, 2017 Honorable Consulate of the People’s Republic of China: We are 92 Chinese workers currently in Saipan. We worked for Gold Mantis Decoration LLC at the construction site of Imperial Pacific’s casino. In China, we paid 30,000-50,000 RMB [US $4,350-7,250] for the opportunity to work in America. We worked 13 hours every day with hardly a day off. Many workers suffered injuries on the job. The wages promised by the company (300 RMB [US $43.51] for 9 hours, 50 RMB [US $7.25] for each additional hour of overtime) are below the U.S. minimum wage. Gold Mantis also deducted a “tax” of US $1,000-1,600 per person. But Gold Mantis has not paid even a cent of our last month of wages. Since […]
One of the fun things about living in China, is that there are very few questions that are considered off-limits (less fun when they are asking you), so I make the most of it and dive right into the personal lives of complete strangers (much to my modest wife’s embarrassment). One of the first questions I get when I start chatting with a stranger is about my salary, I think it’s more out of a curiosity of American life, than actually caring about how rich or poor I am. Through these exchanges the last few years I’ve managed to get a pretty good picture of how wages vary throughout China. I remember being surprised at how eager students were in Longzhou (a tiny, middle of […]
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