Laborer's wife gets money for husband
A migrant worker's wife has received 286,000 yuan in compensation from a Beijing labor contractor after her Chinese husband died in a fall during his work in Angola, the Beijing News reported yesterday.
Han Libai, a 42-year-old migrant worker from Jiangsu province, had worked in Beijing for more than three years before heading to Angola in December 2009. Han fell from a 9-m building on a building site in Luanda, the capital city of Angola, on Jan 13.
"He told many relatives he could make 300 yuan a day in Africa," Han's wife Hu Xiurong told the newspaper. "But he never mentioned he had signed a contract with the company."
Li Shanqiao, the labor contractor who took Han to Angola, said the original contract was in Africa but a copy was on file in Hebei province.
Li said they sent Han to the best hospital in Luanda, but Han had insisted on returning to China.
"He said if he died, he wanted to do so in China," Li added.
Han died of multiple organ failure while on a plane to the city on Jan 16, two hours after it took off in Angola.
Xu Yuling, director of operations from the Beijing Zhicheng Migrant Worker's Legal Aid and Research Center, said the case reflected the weak rights of migrant workers.
"The accident took place overseas, but the worker belonged to a Chinese company. He deserved compensation according to Chinese law, which means the family should be compensated from the company and not the labor contractor," Xu said yesterday.
(China Daily 02/01/2010 page26)
