Society

Couriers swelter without extra pay

By Wu Yiyao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-06 07:48

SHANGHAI - Despite having to struggle more than 10 hours daily in the searing summer sun, most of Shanghai's 100,000 couriers do not receive hardship allowances for working in adverse weather conditions.

Representatives of more than 20 courier service companies said they did not give this type of compensation to couriers, according to a report by Labor Daily.

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In Shanghai, businesses are required to compensate employees who work outdoors during daytime hours when temperatures exceed 35 C, or while working indoors where temperatures soar above 33 C with a minimum of 10 yuan ($1.48) per day, in accordance with regulations of the Shanghai municipal labor and social security bureau.

Ai Zhijun, a 27-year-old courier from a national company, for one, said he has yet to receive any allowance from his company.

Although the company did promise the courier a bottle of mineral water each day the temperatures reached 35 C, Ai said he has never recieved one.

Ai added that, similarly, his colleagues in other cities receive nothing for working in hot days.

"The entire industry," he said, "is almost uniform in terms of not giving high temperature allowances."

Ai said he typically works 12 hours a day, from 8 am to 8 pm, and is allowed no rest from 1 pm to 5 pm, the hottest period of a day. But with a monthly wage of 2,000 yuan, Ai said he cannot afford chilled beverages or ice creams in summer days.

One measure he employs to stay cool is to make strong tea in a single-liter bottle and refill water at coffee rooms where he delivers and picks up mail at office building.

"Usually I have to refill (the bottle) two or three times, and the strong tea becomes pale by the end of the day," Ai said.

Ai said that such improvisation is all too common in what can be a dangerous situation.

For instance, "a colleague fainted when he suffered from sunstroke yesterday", Ai said.

None of this is surprising. The highest temperature in the city on Tuesday soared to 39.6 C.

On average, 2,000 inquiries concerning hardship pay for high temperature were received daily in the last week, according to an operator with telephone inquiry service of Shanghai municipal labor and social security bureau.