Top Biz News
Chinese laborers await payoff from employer
By Zhang Yan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-07 07:46
Fifty-two Hebei laborers are suing their employment agency for getting them into dangerous jobs in Romania at Fengtai district court.
The result of the 5.57 million yuan compensation case is expected on Wednesday.
"My 80-year-old mother is paralyzed and the leg injury I sustained in Romania will stop me from being able to do any farm work. My whole family now depends on my wife," said Meng Fanxing, one of the labor workers.
Meng is a 45-year-old farmer from Gucheng county, Hebei province.
Gucheng is nationally famous for exporting labor to other countries. Local farmers believe international labor work will allow them to improve their lives.
From October to December 2007, Meng became familiar with Wang Zhanglian, a manager at the Gucheng Shunda Labor Information Consultation Ltd Company.
Wang then introduced Song Yuping, a colleague from China International Economic and Trade Co Ltd and Wa Li, an Israeli property developer, to Meng and the other farmers in Dec 6, 2007.
The court said that according to Wang, workers signed labor contacts for three to five years for 3 euros per hour. Wa Li would also provide free accommodation.
Wang added that if the workers performed well for 5 years, the agency would help them get the right to do labor work in Europe.
In January 2008, Meng and 68 other farmers each gave 80,000 yuan to Wang and the agency.
Meng told the court he had borrowed money from his relatives and sold all the valuables in his home to save enough.
In the same month they paid Wang another 4,800 yuan each to cover the costs of visas and tickets.
The labor force flew to a town suburb of Romania's capital city, Bucharest, in April 2008.
As planned, they started construction work on a large supermarket.
However, in July 2008 the Romanian Immigration Bureau notified the labor workers that their visas had expired and asked them to leave within 15 days.
According to the bureau, the employment agency didn't provide labor workers with formal labor export work visas, but issued temporary residence visas instead.
