Society
Chinese workers stranded in Japan as employer flees
By Gao Changxin (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-23 07:24
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SHANGHAI - Six Chinese workers have been stranded in Japan after their employer shut down his factory and disappeared on March 14 without paying them salaries for more than a year.
 A view of the small, shabby dormitory room where six Chinese workers stay in a suburban area of Japan. |
The Japanese employer owes the six women a total of 10.2 million yen ($112,765).
The women, all of whom are natives of Shanghai, are living in a shed, which was provided by their employer, while they try to figure out a way to get their salaries.
"We can only speak a little bit of Japanese. Now, we have started calling our friends and relatives in China for help," He Miaohong, one of the six workers, was quoted in the Oriental Morning Post as saying.
He's husband, Lu Shengfeng, who lives in Shanghai's Jinshan district, said one of He's friends who had worked in the factory for three years found the job for her .
She had a three-year contract with the factory at a monthly salary of about $1,100. Her employer disappeared just four months before she was due to complete her contract.
He hasn't returned to China ever since she left for the job more than two years ago.
"My plan was to go back to Shanghai to visit the Expo Park with my family," He said.
The six workers have filed a complaint with the local labor standards inspection office. The office has told them the investigation will take time.
The workers went to their employer's house on Sunday. His wife answered the door and said she knew nothing about the situation.
"The situation can't continue," Lu said. "My wife is living on biscuits and other food I send her in the mail. The food in Japan is very expensive."
Lu said there is no telephone in He's room, though a barber who works next door has generously allowed her to use the Internet in his shop.
Photographs mailed by the six women show their cramped and shabby dorm is surrounded by mountains.
"This place is very far from the city. We used to rely on our employer to drive us to get groceries, but now he is gone. We really don't know what to do," He said.
Lu said their 8-year-old son's tuition fees came from He's salary.
Liao Hongwei, an official at the Chinese embassy in Japan, who is responsible for the protection of the legal rights of Chinese students in the country, said the embassy will step in to help the workers.
"The embassy will negotiate with the Japanese government and the company to help the workers get their salaries," Liao was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
According to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan had 562,818 foreign workers at the end of October last year, with Chinese leading the pack at 249,325 or 44.3 percent.
The increasing presence of Chinese migrant workers in Japan since the late 1980s has in recent years given rise to an increasing number of labor disputes among Chinese migrant workers and Japanese employers.
On March 24, 2008, two workers were shot dead and four others were injured by police in Equatorial Guinea, after 100 workers lodged an illegal protest about poor working conditions.
In September of the same year, six women were enslaved and abused by a Japanese laundry company where they were employed.
